


Illusion

by orphan_account



Category: X-Men Evolution, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: F/M, I'm so sorry about early 2000s me, for some reason I gave Boton a brother?, gross misuse of google translate, posted here for archival purposes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-28 00:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 36,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15036815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Koenma sends his two totally different teams on a mission they have to work together in. However, it seems that Koenma has a different reason for wanting them to work together. YYH/x-men evolution.||Reposting from fanfiction.net as I clear out old fics. Originally posted 12-05-04. Finished on 03-18-06





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've wanted to clear out old fics from ff.net for a while now, but haven't had the heart to delete them, no matter how awful they are. I like looking back and seeing how very far I've come. So to keep them preserved, they're going up here. (I'm so sorry.)
> 
> I've taken out the original "author notes" (naturally, in that early 2000s chat-based style), but that's all of the editing I've done.

**_Chapter 1: The Second Team_**  
Koenma sighs and flips through the different profiles of his two teams.  _'Yusuke… Kurama… Hiei… Kuwabara… Kit… Kari… Sam… Kyo… Gan…'_  He carefully pulls out the last four files and opens the thickest one.

**Kitsume Meimu**  
Half fox demon, half human. Well known for her illusion and ice powers. An ex-thief, but not a well known for. Now works for Prince Enma Jr. because of her attempt at stealing from Spirit World.

Nicknamed 'Rose' by her younger half sister, twin brother, and friends, because of her love for the flower. Her symbol is a simple leaf, a tool used by many illusion foxes.

Koenma sighs and turns the page to the young illusionists photo. Unlike most illusionists hair, which ranges from brown to orange to red, her hair is pure black with forest green tips, which Koenma suspects she got from her human side. Her eyes are forest green with blue flecks, and shine with curiosity and mischief. Her ears are that of a foxes, and are pure black with a forest green tip. In the picture she's wearing a red and white fighting kimono. A green-tipped, black fox tail can be easily seen wrapped around her waist.

_'Very sneaky and incredibly skilled. Just like a fox. '_  Koenma closes Kitsume's file, and opens the next one.

**Hikari Meimu**  
Half human, a fourth earth phoenix, and a fourth black bat demon. Known for her earth-based powers and healing techniques. Also an ex-thief. She used to help her older half sister, but backed out when Kitsume decided to steal from Spirit World. Now also works for Koenma, by choice only.

Nicknamed 'Hope' by her older half siblings and friends, because she always has hope even in the midst of battle and when things look bad. Her symbol is the symbol for Earth; A circle divided into four equal sections.

Koenma flips through the file to the half demon's photo. Unlike her sister, she has multicolored hair. It's bluish black with brown, amethyst, and silver streaks. She keeps her hair pulled back into a neat braid that never seems to become messed up. Her ears, also unlike her sisters, are pointed. Her eyes though, are similar to her sisters. Pure emerald green, which shine with innocence and at the same time, strength and slight darkness. In the picture she's wearing a Feudal age style kimono. The top and underskirt are both white with light green designs, white the outer skirt is emerald green. (SMV: If you've ever seen 'Inuyasha', it's very similar to Sango's kimono. Just replace the pink with light green, and keep the outer skirt the same color.) Also, you can make out two wings on her back. Whether they're that of a Phoenix or bat, it's hard to tell.

_'Strong-hearted, but is always in her sister's shadow.'_  Koenma once again closes the file, only to open the next one.

**Samantha Inukotsu**  
Full-blooded fire dog demon. Well known for her pyro powers and her skill in swordsmanship. Used to help out her two half demon friends, mainly on spying and gathering information. Was busy during the time her female half fox demon friend decided to steal something from Spirit World. Joined because that same half fox demon blackmailed her.

Nicknamed 'Pyro' by her 'allies', because of her fire powers and her fire obsession. Her symbol is two crossed swords encased in fire, which she has a tattoo of on her right arm.

Same with the previous two, Koenma turns the pages until he comes to the dog demon's photo. Her hair is fiery red with streaks of icy silver-blue, which is pulled up into two ponytails. This gives her an innocent child-like look. Her ears are pointed like the younger Meimu daughter, adding to her innocent look. Her eyes are pure crimson red, showing distrust and annoyance, but also slight innocence. In the picture she's wearing a fighting kimono, which is black and crimson red. She has a dog tail, which is fiery red with icy silver-blue tips, similar to her hair.

_'The saying,_ "Looks can be deceiving," _defiantly applies to her. And never call her by her full name...'_  Koenma once again closes the file and opens a new one.

**Kyoshi Shirotama**  
Part mixed-blood demon. Well known for her spirit energy attacks, street fighting skills, and cockiness. Joined the two half foxes, mixed blood half demon, and dog demon after they became a Spirit World team. She joined them after becoming friends with the mixed blood half demon.

Nicknamed 'Idiot' by her dog demon friend. Nicknamed 'Punk' by the rest of her friends. Her symbol is a simple diamond shape.

Koenma once again flips over to the photo page of the part mixed-blood demon. She has ebony black hair, with blue streaks running through it, which she has admitted that she dyed it that way to drive her family insane. In the picture she has it pulled up into a messy bun-like ponytail, which gives her a 'I don't give a damn' look. Her ears are completely normal, as she is mostly human and only changes to her demon form when in a tough fight or if she gets pissed off. Her eyes are cerulean blue, shining with mirth, annoyance, and cockiness. In the picture she's wearing baggy blue jeans, with silver chains hanging off them, and a black shirt that reads, 'Wanna know how to keep and idiot busy? (see the back)'. Most likely on the back it reads the same thing only with '(see the front)' on the bottom.

_'Punk… much like Yusuke. I believe they will get along very well. Would make a bit of a better leader than Rose…'_  Koenma chuckles slightly this time, as he closes the file and opens the last one.

**Ganko Meimu**  
Half fox demon, half human. Like his twin, he's well-known for his illusion and ice powers. He never was a thief like his two sisters, instead grew up as a messenger for the demon lords. Joined his sisters and their friends after being replaced as a messenger by a wind demoness.

Nicknamed 'Pervert' by his friends, although 'Fox' is his actual nickname, both nicknames are pretty much self explanatory. His symbol is a simple leaf, very much like his twin sister, as it's what illusion foxes use for their magic.

Koenma flips through the last file, to the male fox half demon's photo page. He has black hair much like his sister, but instead of green tips his are golden orange. His eyes are just like his twins though, forest green with hints of blue, shining with curiosity and mischief. His ears are that of a foxes as well, black with golden orange tips. In the picture he's wearing a white haori and forest green hakama. He also has a black fox tail with golden orange tips.

_'A pervert, and yet at the same time he's so wise. He does lose his cool though… and goofs off a lot.'_  Koenma closes the last file and sighs. "Lets pray they'll work together." He eyes two buttons on his desk before pressing them both. "Now to get Botan and Daisetsu in here."


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2: Head-On Collision  
_** "Botan's running late." A navy blue haired boy comments, a smirk finding it's way onto his face.

Koenma looks up from stamping papers, to look at his most punk-like 'grim reaper'. Granted, the boy does look the part more than Botan, but his good looks and his attitude would throw you off a little. (But still not as much as Botan.)

Today he's wearing one of his favorite outfits. Baggy black jeans with chains attached to it. His shirt is black with "I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it" written in white. His navy blue hair would reach his shoulders if he didn't keep it pulled up into a ponytail.

"Wonder what's keeping her…" He gives a fake cough, and Koenma can barely pick up the word 'prep.'.

"Daisetsu, I know she's your sister, but must you always say and think the worst about Botan?" Koenma asks. "There are times when she's more useful than you."

Daisetsu snorts. "Yeah right, she can't even fight! At least I'm skilled with a few weapons so I can help the girls and Ganko! The most she can do is use her stupid oar to whack demons on the head and fly away."

Koenma sighs and goes back to stamping papers. "I see your dragon isn't with you."

"He's here somewhere. Probably out torturing the ogres again, he always has enjoyed that." Daisetsu remarks, a thoughtful look on his face. "I should let him do that more often."

"Please don't." Botan says, as she closes the door behind her.

Daisetsu glances back at his sister, his red eyes not showing his surprise at not hearing her enter. "Finally decided to show up, huh?"

"I would have been here earlier if your pet didn't cause all the ogres to panic!" Botan replies heatedly.

Daisetsu chuckles. "Aww, he's just having fun."

Koenma clears his throat. "Stop fighting! I have a mission for the two teams. Get them here."

"But Koenma, they're in school right now!" Botan protests. "You know how Keiko feels about Yusuke ditching school!"

Daisetsu rolls his eyes. "Alright, I'll go get Punk, Rose, Hope, Pyro, and Fox-boy." He starts walking to the opposite wall. "Tetsu, get in here!"

The large doors open and a black and silver dragon flies in, scaring Botan. Tetsu flies over to Daisetsu as he's opening a portal, and lands on his shoulder.

Botan glares at Daisetsu's retreating back mumbling something under her breath.

"You going, Botan?" Koenma asks.

"Yes, of course." Botan replies, summoning her oar. "I'll be back soon!" She quickly flies off to find the boys and get them to Spirit World.

**Ninriki High**  
Kyoshi, Kitsume, Hikari, Ganko, and Sam all are in the same classroom. The classroom of surpreme evilness: Math. All the girls except Kyoshi are wearing the school uniform. A maroon skirt and shirt, with a white scarf tucked in the collar. Kyoshi's outfit is her old one from her last school. It's black with a blue scarf in the collar, a single line across the bottom of the skirt is blue.

Ganko's outfit is maroon as well, and has on a white undershirt under his. You can tell because his jacket is unbuttoned.

Today Kyoshi has her hair pulled up into a high ponytail and is now staring blankly out the window in complete boredom. Kitsume has her hair down and is staring blankly at the white board in the front of the room. Hikari has her hair in her braid as usual, and is daydreaming. Ganko's hair is spiked up today and he's reading a comic book under his desk. Sam has her hair in two ponytails as always and is doodling pictures of different ways to kill the math teacher.

None of them even look up when Daisetsu enters the room, still in street clothes because he forgot to change. Tetsu is clinging to his back, unnoticed by everyone without spirit or demon powers. A smirking Daisetsu hands a note to the flustered teacher and looks up to spot the rest of the half-dead team.

"Oi! Punk, Rose, Hope, Pyro, Fox! Come on, we gotta go!" Daisetsu yells, successfully startling everyone but Kyoshi and Sam. Sam simply looks up at Daisetsu hoping there's a mission, while Kyoshi continues to stare out the window. "PUNK! TIME TO GET OUT OF LALA LAND!" Daisetsu yells, effectively startling Kyoshi so much she falls out of her seat with a loud crash.

"GOD DAMMIT, DAI! YOU FRICKIN' MORON!" Kyoshi yells, completely oblivious to all the stares of her classmates and teaching, and the annoyed looks from her teammates. "Every frickin' time! I'm tired of this s-" Sam claps a hand over Kyoshi's mouth before she has a chance to fully curse out Daisetsu in front of the class.

"Love you too, punk." Daisetsu says jokingly, eliciting more curses from Kyoshi.

The three siblings stay out of the way, preferring to watch the fight, or in Ganko's case, yell out random words of advice to Kyoshi.

"GANKO, WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCKING HELL UP!"

After getting suspended for a week, Kyoshi and Ganko were both in rather good moods. This set Kitsume off on a rather long speech as they walked to an abandoned alley where Daisetsu could call up a portal for spirit world. Sam glares at the both of them, angry she couldn't have gotten out of school too. Hikari hums a soft tune the whole way, trying her best to ignore her half sister and the sulking pyro beside her. As for Daisetsu, he picked up on Hikari's soft tune and deciding to sing along. It was surprisingly in-key, as opposed to his usual high-pitched, random singing.

"…You're all idiots, you know." Kitsume finishes as they reach the alley.

Ganko and Kyoshi exchange glances, before saying in unison, "We know." And then they high-five each other.

Daisetsu laughs at the annoyed look on Kitsume's face, Hikari giggles, and Sam rolls her eyes.

"Just open the portal, Daisetsu." Kitsume says with a growl. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get away from these idiots."

Kyoshi and Ganko both approach Kitsume with evil grins before they each wrap one of their arms around Kitsume's shoulders. "You know you love us."

Daisetsu shakes his head still laughing, and gets the portal up. "'kay you guys! In ya go!" He shoves Kyoshi in once she lets go of Kitsume.

"Gah! Dai-" Kyoshi yell gets cut off as she falls through the portal.

Daisetsu smirks. "Ha, gotcha, Punk."

**Koenma's office**  
At exactly the same time two portals open in Koenma's office, one pink and black, the other blue and black. And at exactly the same time, two black haired detectives stumble out of the portals and collide into each other.

"-Setsu- GAHH!"

Koenma looks down at Kyoshi and Yusuke who are now on the ground arguing, and then looks up to see Hikari and Hiei walking out of the portals, followed by everyone else.

"-It's not my fault the idiot shoved me in!"

"But it's your fault you crashed into me!"

"What the hell was I suppose to do?! Jump out of the way!? Only a demon could accomplish something like that, you fool!"

"You could have tried!"

"It's not like I knew you were there!"

The blue and black portal closes as Daisetsu steps out of it smirking, obviously pleased with himself.

Kyoshi jumps up and focuses her intense blue eyes on Daisetsu. "YOU JERK! First you go and freak me out in class, making me look like a complete idiot-"

Sam smirks. "You are an idiot, Punk."

"Shut up, Pyro." Kyoshi growls, before continuing her rant. "And because of that we got detention for two months after our suspension ends, then you shoved me through the frickin' portal, making me crash into that idiot!"

"Kyoshi, you have serious issues." Daisetsu comments after a minute of silence.

"Do you want a spirit gun up your ass, Dai?" Kyoshi asks innocently.

"No, not really. Sounds too painful." Daisetsu replies.

"Wanna find out first hand?" Kyoshi asks, pulling a bit of her energy to her index finger.

"Kyoshi!" Koenma says sharply. "Cut it out! I have a mission for all of you!"

"Oh joy," Ganko grumbles. "What's it this time, a bunch of idiot thieves steal your food? Or maybe your pacifier. Heh."

"This is serious! It includes the fate of both the human world and the demon world, so shut up and listen for once!" Koenma yells.

"I'm not working with him!" Kyoshi yells, pointing at Yusuke, who's now standing up.

"Not like I want to work with you either." Yusuke shoots back.

"Will you idiots shut up." Sam snaps. "You're going to give me a headache."

Koenma clears his throat, glaring at the three teens. "You're all working together on this one. So, I suggest you introduce yourselves. Girls- and Ganko- you go first."

Kyoshi rolls her eyes. "I'm Kyoshi Shirotama. Number one punk at our school, Ninriki High."

"I'm Hikari Meimu."

"Kitsume Meimu."

"Ganko Meimu, the second toughest punk at our school! And that's Pyro."

Sam directs her glare at Ganko. "It's Sam. Sam Inukotsu, not Pyro you demented half breed."

"Hey!" Ganko immediately whines.

Daisetsu snickers before introducing himself. "I'm Daisetsu, that idiot's-" He points to Botan. "-older and much more mature brother."

Kitsume smacks Daisetsu upside the head for that comment. "And you say I'm conceited." She then ignores Daisetsu's mild cursing in favor of studying the other boys.

"I'm Shuichi Minamino, but you can call me Kurama."

"I'm the great Kazuma Kuwabara! Number one punk at Sarayashiki High!"

"Yusuke Urameshi, super punk."

Kyoshi's jaw drops. "THE Yusuke Urameshi?!"

Yusuke smirks. "Yeah."

"HOLY SHIT!"

All of Kyoshi's friends laugh, except Sam who smirks and says, "She has a shrine built for you in her closet."

"I DO NOT, PYRO! YOU MADE THAT UP YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Kyoshi yells.

"Payback's a bitch, Kyoshi." Sam reminds her 'human' friend, before focusing her red eyes on Hiei. "What's your name apparition?"

"That's Hiei, I'm afraid he doesn't talk much." Kurama says.

"Noticed." Comes the reply from Sam, Kyoshi, Ganko, and Daisetsu.

Koenma resists rolling his eyes. "Alright everyone, listen up. This is a very important mission."

"Isn't every one?" Yusuke asks, getting a whack on the head from Yusuke. "What was that for, Botan!?"

-WHAM-

Everyone stares at an annoyed Daisetsu, who just brought his oar down on Botan's head.

"Oh dear…" Hikari murmurs.

Koenma sighs.  _'This is going to take a while…'_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3: More Distractions** _

 

"You jerk!"

"GANKO YOU PERV! KNOCK IT OFF NOW!"

"Asshole!"

"I didn't mean it!"

"Urameshi, you shouldn't yell at girls!"

"SHUT UP!"

For the past ten minutes, ever since Daisetsu knocked out Botan, the room has been in chaos. First Ganko groped Kyoshi, then got hit by his sister, Kyoshi, and Yusuke as well. Then Kyoshi and Yusuke started arguing and Kuwabara got started on his 'code'. Meanwhile, Sam and Hiei somehow got into an argument over who knows what. During all this Daisetsu, Hikari, Kurama, and Koenma are all standing to the side, watching the others fight.

"Think we should stop them before Ganko gets a concussion?" Daisetsu asks.

"No, and if he does we'll all blame you since it was you who started this mess." Koenma says, now stamping the papers.

"Koenma's right, Daisetsu." Hikari says softly. "If you didn't knock out Botan the others wouldn't have started arguing. Although…" She trails off, watching as Kuwabara gets hit in the head by Kitsume. "It probably would have happened anyway."

Kurama nods in agreement. "True. Kyoshi and Yusuke's personalities seem to be very similar, like their stubbornness for example."

"It makes them not want to give up their argument or believes." Hikari finishes. "Kyoshi and Kitsume argue a lot, and most of the time Kitsume looses because she gives up or Ganko sides with Kyoshi. The Sam says something that gets Kyoshi riled up-"

"PYRO WILL YOU SHUT UP!"

"And then Kyoshi starts a fight with Sam and someone has to split them up." Daisetsu finishes. "While we, the innocent cute ones, sit on the side and cheerfully watch them fight while eating popcorn!"

Hikari, Kurama, and Koenma all three sweat drop at Daisetsu's last comment.

"DAI! GET YOUR STUPID DRAGON OFF OF ME NOW!" Botan's usually cheerful voice cuts in, only this time it shows anger.

Daisetsu rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Hey Tetsu, how 'bout you go off to the Makai for a while."

Tetsu turns his piercing blue gaze to Daisetsu before giving a curt nod and flying off through the door.

"I hate that dragon…" Botan grumbles.

"He hates you too, sis. I assure you." Daisetsu says loudly.

And so re-begins the arguing, this time with no one watching, as Hikari and Kurama begin chatting, Botan and Daisetsu argue, and poor little Koenma continues on with his boring job of stamping papers.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4: The Mission_

A hour later Ayame fades through the wall in Koenma's office and is about to speak before the loud volume of the yelling hits her. Her normally calm expression turns to near shock as she looks around at everyone arguing. "Oh my…"

Koenma doesn't look up from his papers. "If you find everyone except Hikari and Kurama arguing is unbelievable, then you'll never believe me when I tell you they've been at it for over an hour now."

Ayame's dark eyes widen. "An hour? And you've allowed it to continue on like this, Lord Koenma?"

"What can I do? The two teams are matched wit for wit. Kyoshi's and Yusuke's personalities are so close it will be a miracle if they ever get along, Botan and Daisetsu are brother and sister- and complete opposites-, Sam and Hiei are both stubborn demons with equally hot tempers- although Sam's temper is much worse-, Ganko's a pervert which gets on the girls and Kuwabara's nerves, and last Kitsume has to play 'mother' to them all but winds up getting in arguments herself." Koenma says with a heavy sigh. "I'm surprised that Kurama and Hikari aren't fighting, but then-"

"And we're the innocent goodie goodies that never ever do anything bad, like steal shiny things." Hikari says, tilting her head sideways slightly, her eyes shining with innocence.

Koenma now looks up at the innocent looking half-demoness in front of him. "Yes, Hikari. Although there are times when your bat side shows too much. Like now. Leave the pendant alone, Kari."

Hikari blinks and lets the ruby pendant she had been messing with fall back on her chest. "Was I acting like daddy again?"

Koenma nods before turning back to his papers. Hikari groans in frustration, getting a confused look from Kurama. Then she glares at everyone arguing in a very rare show of anger. "WILL YOU IDIOTS SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Silence fills the room as everyone stares at Hikari in shock, except Ganko who just about passes out at hearing his younger half sister curse and yell, as does Kitsume.

After about one minute, in which everyone didn't trust their voices enough to speak, Kyoshi suddenly cracks up laughing and collapses on the floor clutching her Yusuke starts snickering and eventually collapses on the floor laughing with Kyoshi.

"Well, it's official. They're insane. Better call the nuthouse, sis." Ganko comments, causing Kyoshi and Yusuke to laugh harder.

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny, Ganko." Kitsume says sarcastically. "Besides we already knew they were insane- well, we knew Kyoshi was insane. What difference does it make now?"

"Stupid punk." Sam comments.

Ganko starts snickering now.

"Don't you dare start, Ganko." Hikari growls.

Ganko lets out a small 'eep' of surprise before running to hide behind Sam. Sam rolls her eyes while muttering a curse before dragging the perverted half fox out from behind her.

"Rose, control the pervert will you?" Sam growls, digging her nails into Ganko's ears slightly, causing him to wince.

Koenma clears his throat. "Well, thanks to Kari you all are quiet so I can now tell you your mission. Ayame, the files please."

Ayame, now calmed down, opens up her file and begins to read. "On Tuesday, August 25, Spirit World received news of a demon over in the United States of America. More specifically, in upstate New York. He plans to gather mutants living in the area and turn them over to his side." She brushes a strand of hair out of her face and turns the page, ignoring the useless information. "The demon is known as Denkou, and he is a powerful lightning demon. He is around 200 years old and this is the first time he has ever interfered with the barriers. Normally this wouldn't be a big concern, but he is a low B-class demon-"

"Wait- wait- wait!" Kyoshi interrupts. (still on the ground beside Yusuke.) "You mean to tell me we have to travel all the fuckin' way over to America, to New York, just to get rid of a god-dammed B-class demon?!"

"Yes."

"COOL! Can we stop at NYC?" Kyoshi asks, causing everyone to sweat drop.

"Talk to Koenma." Ayame replies, before continuing on with the information, getting tuned out by everyone except Kurama, Hikari, Botan, and Kitsume.

10 minutes later  
"Thank you, Ayame. You can go now." Koenma says, looking over at the teams. Kyoshi, Yusuke, Ganko, Kuwabara, and Daisetsu are currently involved in a card game that sounds suspiciously like 'bullshit', Sam and Hiei are still glaring at each other, and Kurama, Botan, Hikari, and Kitsume are the only ones paying attention at all.

"Alright, you all can wake up now." Koenma says.

Kyoshi tosses down her cards with a yawn. "I give. You win Kuwabara." She looks up at Koenma. "Alright toddler, go ahead and explain the rest of the mission."

Koenma ignores the fact that Kyoshi called him a toddler in favor of explaining the mission. "You all will be going to 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters'. Or something like that." Everyone else sweat drops. "Anyway, you'll be going there pretending to be mutants. You will have to choose one specific power to use while you are there. Kuwabara, Yusuke, Kyoshi, you three cannot use your reiki in front of the mutants at the institution. Reiki has a different energy signal than normal demon and mutant powers and the professor there and the older mutants could pick up on it. Decide by tomorrow on your powers."

"Why tomorrow, Koenma?" Kurama asks.

"Because," Koenma says patiently. "Tomorrow two of the mutants will be coming to pick you up at Genkai's. Which reminds me, Genkai will be going with you all as your teacher."

"WHAT!? The crazy old hag?! Why's she going with us?!" Kyoshi and Yusuke yell in unison. The blink and turn to each other. "How the hell do you know Genkai?!"

Koenma sighs, but decides not to let them go full out this time. "Listen! You all need to be at Genkai's before 8 o'clock tomorrow." He turns to Daisetsu. "Daisetsu, I need you to go inform Genkai of this now."

Daisetsu shrugs. "'kay. I need to get something from her anyway. Later guys. C'monTetsu, lets go bug grandma and the overgrown blue pigeon." He says, walking toward the wall where one of his black and blue portals have opened up. Tetsu quickly trots after his master, puffs of smoke coming from his nostrils.

"Daisetsu, you even think about flirting with Yukina again and you're dead, you hear me." Sam says, narrowing her red eyes at the spirit guide.

"I hear ya Pyro!" Daisetsu relies with a small wave as he disappears through the portal.

A fireball quickly flies after him and everyone hears a yelp before the portal closes.

Sam smirks. "Stupid spirit guide." She frowns. "Damn, he needs a better nickname."

"Yeah, preferably something with five or less letters." Kyoshi says with a yawn.

Koenma sighs and decides to get them out of his office before another fight breaks out. "Listen carefully, I want all of you to be at Genkai's before 8 o'clock. Two mutants will be coming to pick you up from there. By that time all of you except Kyoshi, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan, and Dai will have to have your powers figured out. If you need help deciding, talk to Genkai. Now," He takes a breath. "Get out of here and get lots of sleep tonight. And pack up as well. Kurama, I have an excuse for you." He turns to Kyoshi. "Kyo, do you need one?"

"Nah, I can handle it." Kyoshi says, waving it off.

Botan quickly opens a portal and shows Kuwabara and Hiei through first, while Kurama gets a few papers from Koenma. Yusuke stays behind for a minute.

"Hey Koenma, how're they getting home?" Yusuke asks, jabbing his thumb over to the girls and Ganko. "They're spirit guide ran off to grandma's."

Koenma looks up at the spirit detective. "They'll be dropped off with you."

"No way in hell! My bike's at school and there's no way I'm leaving it!" Kyoshi retorts angrily.

"Fine, you can take Yusuke home then, since you two live close by each other." Koenma says waving them off. "Just go, I have a lot of work to do."

Kyoshi and Yusuke glare at each other. "Fine."

"Good. Now, Botan open a portal to Ninriki high please, so these two can get out of here." Koenma says, returning to stamping his papers.

Ninriki High Parking lot  
"So, where's this bike of yours, and how are both of us going to ride on it?" Yusuke asks, looking over to the bike rack to see nothing.

Kyoshi rolls her eyes and pulls a key chain out of her breast pocket that has three keys on it. "First of all, it ain't over there. It's over there." She points over to a black and blue motorcycle.

Yusuke's jaw drops.

"And second of all, how the hell do you think we're both riding it? I'm driving, you're behind me, stupid." Kyoshi finishes, walking over to the motorcycle. She gets on and sticks the key in the ignition. "So, you comin' or not?"

"I- uh- heck yeah!" Yusuke finally finds the right word and gets on behind Kyoshi. "You do have a license, right?"

"You could probably care less," Kyoshi says. "But if it really matters to you, I do have a license. A special spirit world license." She winks and starts up the bike. "Now, hang on tight. I can usually get this load of metal goin' pretty damn fast!"

Yusuke grabs a hold of Kyoshi's waist as the bike wheels up from the fast speed they start out with.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: Flight to Bayville_

Genkai's Home- 7:59 am

Everyone except Kyoshi is lounging in the living room at Genkai's. And everyone there has already chosen their powers.

Kurama chose plants, Sam and Hiei chose fire, Kitsume chose illusions, Ganko chose ice, Hikari chose healing, and Botan, Daisetsu, Kuwabara, and Yusuke had to go with no powers. Of course, Kyoshi has to go with no powers as well.

Soon everyone can hear the unmistakable sound of Kyoshi's motorcycle coming. Exactly how she gets up to the top only the rest of her teammates, Genkai, and Yukina could possibly know. Soon after the sound of doors sliding open and then slamming closed can be heard, as well as the pounding of footsteps against the wood floor. And then a loud 'slam' as Kyoshi throws the door to the living room open and collapses on the floor beside Ganko with her bag.

"I made it…" She manages to gasp out, while trying to catch her breath.

"Not quite, punk." Genkai says. "You're two minutes late."

Kyoshi curses.

"Well, it is a new record for you, Kyoshi. Usually you're five or ten minutes late." Kitsume remarks, getting a growl from Kyoshi.

"I guess you forgot to reset your alarm, again." Sam says, getting Kyoshi further ticked off.

"Or misplaced your cloak." Ganko adds.

"Or your bags." Daisetsu can't resist adding.

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOTS!" Kyoshi screams. "It wasn't anything of the sort!"

"Was it your parents again, Kyoshi?" Hikari asks, gently laying a clawed hand on her friends shoulder.

Kyoshi glances up at her smaller friend and nods. "Yeah. First it was me always running off with either Dai or Ganko, then it was my motorcycle, then it changed to school for some unknown reason, and last I had to go through a whole fucking 15 minutes on how my 'dear precious, perfect, top-grade, older sister' would never do any of the fucking things I fucking do every single fucking day!" She finishes with a yell, slamming a fist down into the wood floor. Hikari, Yukina, Kuwabara, Botan, and Yusuke all jump, somewhat startled.

Genkai sighs. "Kyoshi, I suggest calming yourself before our guests arrive. Have some tea." She pushes a cup of tea across the table over to Kyoshi, who glares at the china cup.

"Hey grandma, do you know how we're getting to the US?" Yusuke asks, annoyed he had to get up so early.

"I have no clue Yusuke, so don't ask me." Genkai says before ignoring all the teenagers in favor of playing a game on her Gameboy Advanced XP. (Which I don't own… and also don't know if it's XP or SP...)

Sam casually leans back and closes her red eyes, while straightening her blue baseball cap that's pulled down over her ponytails. Kyoshi then takes the time to look around the room at everyone.

Her attention starts on Sam, who is today dressed in a blue and white shirt. She's also wearing loose, baggy blue jeans and red socks.

Kyoshi sighs.  _'Guess she couldn't help but wear somethin' red.'_  She directs her attention over to Kitsume, Botan, Hikari, and Yukina.

Kitsume has her natural black and green hair pulled up into a high ponytail and is wearing a reddish-gray plaid mini skirt. Her shirt has a collar, short sleeves, and is white. A black vest is over it.  _'Damn, went for the stupid private school girl look, didn't she.'_ _  
_  
Botan has her blue hair up as always, and is wearing a sunny yellow shirt, with faded blue jeans. _'Like the casualty.'_

Hikari has her hair braided like always and is wearing an earthy green shirt with a knee-length soft brown skirt.  _'Gone for soft earthy colors like always. Pretty casual too.'_

Yukina dropped the light blue kimono for the day and is instead wearing a red short sleeved shirt and loose blue pants. Her aqua colored hair is tied back with the usual red hair piece.  _'Least she ditched the kimono for once. 'Specially since it's summer.'_

Her gaze travels over to Kurama and Hiei, who are quietly talking in the corner. Hiei's wearing his black cloak and pants like usual and Kurama's wearing a simple white t-shirt and blue jeans.  _'I wonder how Hiei can wear that throughout summer. Probably has somethin' to do with being part fire apparition. I know Sam never gets hot or cold. Oh well, at least Kurama's dressed casual too…'_

Kyoshi catches a completely off the wall comment and turns her attention to Ganko, Daisetsu, and Kuwabara.  
Ganko went for showing off his kitsune charm and is looking rather cute.  _'God, where'd that thought come from?'_  He has once again spiked up his hair and has one small gold hoop earring in one of his disguised ears. Kyoshi notices his patented smirk as he says something to Daisetsu and Kuwabara, gesturing wildly with his hands. Ganko has decided to go with a dark green t-shirt with 'PUNK' written in black across it. He's also wearing his favorite navy blue jeans.  _'Well, he's wearing something normal. Stupid playboy fox. He just had to go for the cute look!'_

Daisetsu's hair has a more disheveled look today, and he's wearing a pair of blue baggy jeans with silver chains. Today his shirt is purple with 'The squirrels are out to get me!' written in white.  _'Looks tired… the shirt suits him too. And look, Tetsu's sleeping in his bag. That explains the looks Botan keeps shooting in his direction.'_

Like Kurama, Kuwabara is wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans as well, only his t-shirt is light blue.  _'Damn, guess everyone but Kitsume went for the casual look!'_

Kyoshi's gaze then falls on Yusuke and she blushes slightly.  _'I never noticed how hot he- NO! Bad thoughts, bad, bad, BAD!_ _'_  She silently seethes to herself, looking him over unconsciously. He's wearing a plain black t-shirt and regular jeans.  _'But damn he looks good. ACH! BAKA!'_

Genkai chuckles softly. "Stop thinking so loudly, Kyo."

Kyoshi instantly blushes, her entire face going red. "G-gen-genkai!"

Genkai makes a small noise and turns off the Gameboy. "They're here. Grab your stuff and lets go."

Kyoshi, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Ganko, and Daisetsu all immediately jump up and grab their stuff before running out of the room. The others follow more slowly. For the 5 rushing outside, it somehow turned into a tag race to see who could get out first.

Outside Logan and Ororo are stepping out of the X-jet.

("Logan, are you sure this is the place? It doesn't look like a place a bunch of kids would be trained at.") Ororo says, looking around at the large temple.

("Probably a dojo around back. Lets go.") Logan says walking toward the front door. However, he doesn't get that far because of Kyoshi and Yusuke careening out of the front door, quickly followed by Ganko, then Daisetsu, and last Kuwabara.

Ganko looks at Kyoshi and Yusuke in amusement. "So, which one of you won?"

Daisetsu shakes his head in annoyance.

Ororo looks at them in confusion while Logan watches slightly amused.

"I did." The two black haired detectives say at the same time.

Kyoshi glares at Yusuke. "You did not, Yusuke! I got out the door first!"

"You did not! You were slightly behind me when we were going out the door!" Yusuke retorts.

"I was not!"

"Were too!"

"No way! You were the one behind me!"

And so it continues, until Genkai walks out of the temple.

"YOU TWO DIMWITS SHUT UP NOW!"

Kyoshi and Yusuke immediately snap their mouths shut and turn to Genkai.

"But-!"

"Shut. Up." Genkai growls, before turning to Ororo and Logan. ("You must be the two from the institute. I'm Genkai and these are my idiot students. The smart one's are behind me.")

"Hey!" Kyoshi, Ganko, and Yusuke yell.

("I'm Ororo Monroe, and this is Logan. May I ask, are all these kids coming?") Ororo asks, mentally counting all of them.

("Yes, all of them are coming. The five idiots that ran out are the main one's you'll have to worry about.") Genkai says, before turning to her group. ("All of you, introduce yourselves now. I'm not doing it for you. And tell or show your powers. Without burning anything Pyro.")

Sam glares at Genkai. "You think I meant to?"

"We know you meant to." Kyoshi says with a smirk.

Logan frowns. 'She'll be a problem. Better warn Chuck when we get back.'

"Kyoshi." Genkai says roughly.

Kitsume decides she's had enough and steps forward. ("I'm Meimu Kitsume and my power is the ability to make illusions.") She demonstrates by turning Kyoshi's hair pink.

"KIT!" Kyoshi yells, angrily. "You know I hate pink!"

Kitsume rolls her eyes and takes away the pink color. "So sorry, Punk."

Kyoshi glares at Kitsume before turning to Logan and Ororo. ("I'm Shirotama Kyoshi. I have no powers.")

Everyone else introduces themselves after that. Sam, Ganko, and Kurama all gave an example of their powers, while the rest just introduced themselves. Then Ororo and Logan introduce themselves, and Genkai translates for some of the group members.

("Alright, load up you fools.") Genkai says.

("Yes, follow me please.") Ororo says, heading for the jet. ("Come on, Logan.")

Kyoshi glares at the jet as the others are getting on it. "I hate planes. Stupid metal death trap…"

"Honestly! It can't be any worse than flying with Daisetsu on his oar!" Kitsume exclaims.

"But I trust Dai! If anything happens to me with him I'll just show up in Koenma's office and beat his head in! I can't do that to a jet!" Kyoshi argues.

Genkai sighs and says, "Kyoshi."

"Yeah?" Kyoshi asks.

"Get on the stupid jet and get the hell away from me." Genkai growls.

Yusuke walks up beside Kyoshi and can't help but make a comment. "Hey grandma, you're coming with us you know! Koenma's orders!"

Kyoshi gives Yusuke a weird look and leans over to whisper in his ear. "Do you realize how cheerfully you said that?"

"I'm glad she's coming," Yusuke says with a shrug. "She's the only one who's not too easy and won't try to kill me in training."

Everyone who's not on the plane, except Kyoshi, Yusuke, and Genkai, all sweat drop.

"You all are idiots…" Sam grumbles, before getting on the plane.

Kyoshi and Yusuke exchange glances before coming to an unanimous decision. Of course, how they decided on exactly the same thing escaped everyone's minds once the stunt was finished.

Together the two run up to Sam, snap her hair bands making her red hair fall free, then pat her on the head saying, 'Good puppy' before laughing and running onto the jet.

Sam glares at the direction the two went, narrowing her brilliant red eyes. She carefully pulls the blue ribbon off from around her neck and uses it to pull back her waist length hair.

"Sam, you can get your revenge later. You know how Kyoshi fears flying machines with a passion, no matter how safe they may be." Genkai says. "Now lets get on before Logan gets too annoyed."

Sam rolls her eyes and grumbles something about stupid wolves before getting on the jet. Genkai follows close behind.

Kyoshi sits twitching nervously in her seat and muttering things under her breath, as she has been ever since the jet left the ground.

Kitsume rolls her eyes. "Kari, help her out will you? If I hear one more thing about radioactive cheese and the mold named Bob, I will go insane."

Hikari nods and walks down the small aisle to Kyoshi and Yusuke's seats.

"Kyoshi, relax please. Nothing's going to happen." She says gently, getting Kyoshi's seat to recline so she can sit down. "Relax, Kyo."

Kitsume hands Hikari a black brush and a blue hair band, which the younger girl quickly accepts and begins gently brushing Kyoshi's hair.

_"Kono chi ni chikara o,_ __  
_No ni hana o,_ _  
_ _Kokoro ni ai o..._

_"Nee kono mimi o oshiatete kikoeta inochi no zawameki,_ _  
_ _Sou oboeteru atatakana kodou ni tsutsumareteta koto."_

Kyoshi slowly begins to drift off to sleep, along with Yusuke, Kuwabara, Daisetsu and Ganko.

_"Dare ka no koe mo, dare ka no kizu mo, kikoenai furi o suru,_ __  
_Sonna minikui kao ni damasarenaide,_ _  
_ _Ima sugu ni ai ni ikite._

_"Kono yo ni umarete_ __  
_Anata no me ni_ __  
_Nani o utsushite_ __  
_Ima kono chi ni chikara o_ __  
_No ni hana o_ _  
_ _Kokoro ni ai o…"_

Hikari trails off with the song here, knowing Kyoshi's already asleep. She blinks and looks around, noticing almost everyone's either in daze or is asleep. She laughs gently. "I guess I put you all to sleep too, ne?"

Kitsume shoves her slumbering brother off her shoulder. "You could say that."

"That was beautiful, Hikari." Kurama comments.

Hikari blushes. "T-thanks…"

Kyoshi mumbles something under her breath, before rolling over and burying her face in Yusuke's sleeve. Kitsume smirks and pulls out a digital camera from her purse and takes a picture of Yusuke and Kyoshi. Then she turns to Ganko and Daisetsu, who are both pathetically cuddled up together asleep. Still smirking, the black and green haired vixen snaps two pictures of her twin brother and friend.

"That's evil." Sam comments, raising an eyebrow at her teammate. "Blackmail?"

Kitsume nods. "Of course. One can never have too much blackmail."

Sam, Hiei, Hikari, Kurama, and Botan all sweat drop.

"Of course…" Botan says nervously.

At the institute

Note: From this point on, when the tentai are speaking Japanese it'll be put in parenthesis.

All the kids and adults (minus Hank) at the institute are all waiting outside for Logan and Ororo to return with the new kids. Kurt is pretty much the only one panicking.

"Do I look okay? Is my tail showing? Do I look blue at all? Are-"

Jean interrupts his tirade. "You're fine, Kurt. Now relax, several of the new students are mutants. But even though some of the others are normal humans, they're friends with the mutants. They won't shun you."

"I really don't get, like, why the professor invited three non-mutants. I mean, I know they are friends with the other mutants, but that, like, doesn't explain why they're coming." Kitty says, confused.

Jean sighs. "We may find out soon enough. Here comes the x-jet."

Everyone looks up at the sound of the x-jet coming in for a landing. Once it lands, the door opens and Logan steps out looking somewhat amused. Ororo follows him with a confused look on her face. Following them are two soaking wet, black haired teens. The girl is wearing a red t-shirt and black baggy jeans, and the boy is wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans. Both of them are speaking in Japanese.

("Stupid Pyro! Waking us up by dumping cold water on us! How dare-") The girl exclaims.

A black and orange-red haired boy walks off next, along with a dark blue haired boy. Both of them are soaking wet as well.

("You know Pyro, she always has to do things her way. We're lucky she didn't light us on fire.") The black and orange-red haired boy comments.

A girl with waist length red hair jumps lightly off the jet and sneaks over to the small group. ("Well maybe if you four idiots didn't stay asleep when flower-boy tried to wake you up, I wouldn't have had to do that.")

The first black hair boy glares at the red-head and opens his mouth to say something, but gets cut off by professor Xavier.

"Welcome to the school. May I ask where your teacher is?"

A pink haired old lady steps off the jet. "I'm right here. Dimwit 1, your overweight bird decided to stow away. Go talk some sense into him, will you. And dimwit 2, your smallest bag is moving."

The first two black haired teens curse in Japanese before running past the others coming off the jet. Once the two are back on the jet, the old lady speaks again.

"You must be Charles Xavier. I'm Genkai, sensei for these idiots that I'm stuck with." She bows. "Kurama, you start off with introductions. State your power too."

A red haired… guy? steps forward. "I'm Minamino Kurama, my power is plants."

A black and green haired girl steps forward next. "I'm Meimu Kitsume, my power is illusions."

The black and orange-red haired boy speaks next. ("I'm Meimu Gan-")

Genkai cuts him off. "In English, you idiot."

The boy grins sheepishly. "Right, sorry 'bout that. The name's Meimu Ganko. Special power is ice and snow."

The red haired girl speaks after him. "I'm Inukotsu Sam, my power is fire. Call me Samantha ever and I swear I will kill you. The only other name besides Sam that I'll accept is Pyro."

A orange haired boy speaks up. "I'm the great Kuwabara Kazuma!"

"He's a normal human, but he does have a good sixth sense." Genkai says.

A multi-color haired girl with her hair in a braid steps forward. "I'm Meimu Hikari, it is a pleasure to meet you all." She bows. "My power is healing."

The navy blue haired boy happily introduces himself next. "I'm Daisetsu! Normal as you can get for hangin' with them."

A sky blue haired girl speaks next. "I'm Botan, sadly I'm related to him. He's my twin brother." She points to Daisetsu. "I'm also a normal human."

Genkai notices that Hiei is refusing to introduce himself. "And Mr. Stubborn-ass over there is Jaganshi Hiei. Another student with fire powers. The aqua haired girl beside him is his twin sister Jaganshi Yukina, who's another ice and snow user." She pauses, ignoring Hiei's glare. "Now we just have to wait for the two dimwits to get back out here.

Right after she said that, the two black haired teens run off the jet. The girl has a small navy blue bag in her hand, while the boy is empty handed but is cursing in Japanese still.

"You two introduce yourselves." Genkai orders.

"Shirotama Kyoshi. Normal punk at my school."

"Urameshi Yusuke. Also normal punk at my school."

Genkai resists rolling her eyes. "And now you know why I call them dimwits."


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6: Danger Room Session_

All the girls are assembled in Kyoshi's assigned room.

Yukina sighs. ("I wonder why Genkai introduced me as Hiei's sister.")

Kyoshi quickly thinks up something. ("Well… it would explain better why you're with us all, ya know. I mean, we can't exactly say that you have to stay with Genkai because you're a demon.")

("We have eavesdroppers.") Sam hisses in annoyance.

("Can you tell who it is?") Botan asks.

Sam sniffs the air. ("Smells like that other Sam kid. And the ice boy, the cat girl, and the German kid.")

("So that would be Sam, Bobby, Kitty, and Kurt.") Hikari says, remembering their names.

Kyoshi grins somewhat evilly. ("Hey Sam, let's let them in.")

Sam raises an eyebrow at her friend, before catching on. ("Fine. I'll be right back.")

Yukina and Botan watch in confusion as Sam disappears in a burst of fire.

("Sam's a flame teleporter.") Kitsume explains. ("If she focuses on her firepower hard enough, she can teleport herself. Now listen.")

A few seconds after Kitsume says that, screams of the four eavesdropping mutants can be heard as Sam sneaks up behind them.

Kyoshi quickly gets up and opens up the door a crack so she can see what's going on.

"I th-thought you were inside with them!" Bobby says, slowly backing up from Sam.

"Well, I was but I thought I smelled four little eavesdropping mutants. And you forgot one little thing. I am the flame. The burning raging fire that cannot be stopped. You think a little wall can stop me? You thought wrong." Sam says as darkly as possible.

Kyoshi grins before slamming open the door and jumps out. "Boo!"

"AHHH!" Bobby, Sam (the mutant), Kurt, and Kitty scream, running down the hall away from them as fast as possible.

Sam and Kyoshi smirk and exchange glances, before cracking up laughing. Kitsume and Hikari look at Sam in surprise at hearing her laugh her head off.

"Oh my god," Kyoshi gasps, slapping her hands on the ground as she collapses to her knees. Sam soon collapses as well, her whole body shaking from laughing.

"Those idiots…! They were so scared…! Kyo, did you see the look on their face!?" Sam says, laughing between breaths and words.

Kyoshi's too busy laughing to reply with words, and instead nods.

After a few minutes of their unrelentless laughter, the boys open up Yusuke's bedroom door (which is right beside Kyoshi's).

"What the hell…?" Yusuke says upon seeing the two laughing girls on the floor.

"They decided to freak out a few of the mutant kids." Kitsume explains, as Ganko kneels down and begins poking Kyoshi. Daisetsu grins and takes that as his cue to kneel down and poke Sam repeatedly. Of course, he nearly gets his hand burnt off in the process.

"Okay you nitwits." Genkai says suddenly, making almost everyone jump. "First, where's Puu at, Yusuke? Second, where's Kokoro, Kyoshi?"

"Puu's/Kokoro's in my room." Yusuke and Kyoshi say at the same time.

"Good." Genkai says. "Now, Xavier said for me to take you all down to the danger room. He wants to have a look at what you can do."

Kyoshi, Sam, Ganko, and Daisetsu get off the floor, already interested.

"Wait a sec, what are me Kyoshi, Dai, Botan, and Kuwabara suppose to do?" Yusuke asks. "To them we have no powers."

"I mentioned you all having enough strength to be on their level." Genkai says, motioning to the rest of the demons of the group. (minus Yusuke and Kyoshi)

"Alright, let's go check it out!" Ganko yells, energetically.

"And hope we don't run into those four." Kyoshi whispers to Sam, who half nods.

The Reikai team stares down at the danger room from the control room.

"So, what's so special about a stupid white room?" Yusuke asks, obviously not impressed.

"What have I told you about assuming things, Yusuke. It gets you in trouble." Genkai says.

Kyoshi, Ganko, Daisetsu, and Kuwabara begin to snicker.

"You four shut up and pay attention." Genkai almost snaps. "Here comes Kurt, Logan, Remy, and Rouge."

"Weird names." Kuwabara mutters, as the four mutants enter the danger room below them.

"Holy shit! What the fuck are they wearing?!" Yusuke yells, noticing the skin tight uniforms.

Genkai glares at him and the other four main troublemakers, making them forget whatever they were about to say.

Jean, Scott, Kitty, Evan, Professor X, and several new recruits enter the room seconds later.

"I'm guessing we will be watching the four down there first so we know a little about what to expect." Kurama says.

"Correct as always, Kurama." Genkai replies. "Now, you all watch. Kitsume, Kurama, Ganko, Hiei, Sam, Yukina, and Hikari, you all are going next. Then Kyoshi, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Daisetsu, and Botan will go."

Xavier listens with interest.

"Work together for once. Do you understand me, Hiei?" Genkai asks, narrowing her eyes at the fire/ice apparition.  
"Hn."

"Fine. Since there are seven of you, I want to mainly work in pairs or a group of three. You will help those who need help. If it's one thing I've still not taught you idiots, it's how to work together." Genkai says, focusing this statement mainly on Yusuke, Kyoshi, and Ganko. She turns her attention to Yukina and Hikari, who both look a little worried. Her expression softens slightly. ("You two stick close to each other and the others. Hikari, if it's necessary, keep your wings invisible and use them to fly out of danger with Yukina. Yukina, you've been working on your ice. If Hikari has to fly up she's left defenseless. You use your powers to make sure neither of you get harmed.") She turns to Kurama. ("No giant man-eating plants. Or anything that could harm the others.") And now to Hiei. ("And you. No black flames. The last thing I need is to have to explain why you can use black fire.") She now turns to Ganko. ("Don't pull anything stupid. Kyoshi, Daisetsu, that goes for you two as well.")

Kyoshi, Ganko, and Daisetsu all immediately use their 'I'm-so-innocent-I-won't-do-anything-like-that-faces'. Professor Xavier and Jean have to stifle their laughter at the looks the three give Genkai.

"Don't give me that look. You know it doesn't affect me."

"Well, it was worth a try…" Ganko grumbles.

("The rest of you don't need a warning. Just be careful of each others positions. That goes for the five of you fighting without your spirit energy too. Now, pay attention and be quiet.") Genkai orders before looking out the one-way window to the danger room. "I'm done talking now, Xavier. You can let them begin."

Jean presses an intercom button. "Kurt, take off the holo-watch. It's dangerous to wear it in there. Logan, what level?"

Logan looks around at his teammates. "Level six or seven is all they can handle."

Jean nods. "Alright. Here it comes you guys." She switches off the intercom and looks over to Scott, who's putting it on level seven.

"Rouge, Logan, and Kurt are down there too you know." Jean reminds him.

"They can handle it." Scott replies.

"HOLY SHIT/CRAP/FUCK/HELL!" Comes several yells from the newest recruits.

"What on earth- AHH!" Botan yells in surprise, noticing what Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kyoshi, Ganko, Sam, and Daisetsu were yelling about.

"Oh my…" Hikari and Yukina both murmur softly.

"He's… blue…" Kitsume says confused.

"It's not as if you dimwits haven't seen worse, so shut up and pay attention. You're lucky those four can't hear you." Genkai says, focusing on the four in the danger room who are now fighting against the robots.

Kyoshi suddenly gasps. "Dammit! I left my katana and kunai back in my room!"

"So, you can fight with your fists, Punk." Sam replies, not removing her red gaze from the fight below.

"Yeah, but I'd feel more comfortable with them…" Kyoshi grumbles.

Seven minutes into the battle, Kyoshi tilts her head sideways. "You know, the uniforms look a bit like a youkai taijiya uniform, just not as protected. There's no armor or anything, and the bright colors attract attention. It doesn't even look as professional as the taijiya uniform." She looks closely at the uniforms. "It doesn't look as comfortable either. Those look even more tight, if that's possible."

Sam nods in agreement.

"And how do you know this?" Yusuke asks.

Kyoshi smirks and looks over at Yusuke. "I'm a descendant of the youkai taijiya clan. My ancestor from that clan was the top taijiya in the village. I actually have her uniform, armor, and weapons. I'll wear my uniform the next time we change."

Ganko silently walks over to Yusuke and whispers, "It really is skin tight, so I always like watching her train in-"

Sam smacks the perverted fox hanyou in the head.

"Oww," Ganko whines, rubbing his now sore head. "Sam, what was that for?"

Sam glares at him. "Number one, it's disrespectful to the taijiya uniform and her ancestor. Number two, you're a perverted idiot. And number three, Kyoshi would have bashed your head in if I didn't hit you."

Ganko grins and puts an arm around Sam's shoulders. "I didn't know you cared so much, Sam. I'm touched."

Sam shoves his arm off her. "I don't, fox. But the last thing we need is for Kyoshi to kill you."

"Yeah," Daisetsu pipes up. "And then I'd have to go through all the stupid paper work. Again." He says, giving Kyoshi a half-hearted glare.

Kyoshi holds up her hands defensively. "Hey! I said I was sorry!"

Yusuke holds back a yawn as Kurt calls off the fight.  _'15 minutes. They took fifteen minutes and still didn't beat them. Can't wait for our turn, then I can kick some robot ass.'_  He glances sideways at the black and blue haired girl standing beside him. _'And I can't wait to see what her level of skill is. Even if we aren't using reiki. Kuwabara said something about feeling a very small amount of reiki, even less than his own, but she wouldn't have lasted this long if that's it. She's gotta be hiding it somehow.'_

"So, who's up for kicking some robot ass!" Ganko suddenly exclaims, walking toward the door. "I know I am!"

"Can he be any more excited?" Kitsume half grumbles as she walks by Kurama, getting a chuckle from the spirit fox.

"Genkai, you know what level we want." Sam says, before following the other demons out of the room.

Kyoshi smirks. "This should be good."

Jean reaches over to set the level.

"Put it on the highest level." Genkai says, without even looking at the buttons. "Trust me, they can and will take out anything you throw at them. They know how much they can take." She says, predicting the question before it even happened.

"Hey Dai, I bet you Sam will use her newest attack." Kyoshi says.

"The flame whip? The chances of that are slim, you know she prefers her fire orbs and flame fists of doom." Daisetsu unconsciously rubs his shoulder where Sam hit him several months ago.

"I say we do fifty." Kyoshi responds nonchalantly.

"Why not one hundred?" Daisetsu asks, now smirking.

"Because, baka," Kyoshi starts. "You blew half your money on that video game. You don't have one hundred dollars."

"Oh yeah…" Daisetsu says, now remembering. "And that game sucked too."

"Aww, poor Dai. Here, let me play a sad, sad song on the worlds smallest violin." Kyoshi says sarcastically.

"Gee, thanks for making me feel better."

"No prob, Dai."

With their betting done, the two turn to watch their friends fight the robots.

"This is stupid." Sam comments, leaning up against a wall.

Kurama glances around the white room. "Do you think it's wise to lean against the wall like that, Sam?"

"I'll do what I want, Minamino." Sam snaps, crossing her arms.

"Get ready." Hiei says.

Kitsume immediately illusions up two sai, glowing with fox-fire. Ganko creates a staff made of spiral ice. Hikari and Yukina fall into defensive positions. Kurama reaches up and pulls a rose from his hair. Hiei puts a hand on his katana. Sam doesn't move at all.

Up in the control room Kyoshi pushes past Jean and turns on the intercom to yell at Sam.

"SAMANTHA PYRO INUKOTSU! YOU GET YOUR ASS OFF THE WALL AND PAY ATTENTION!"

Sam jumps in surprise before glaring at the spot she knows Kyoshi's at. Then, smirking, she flicks Kyoshi off.

"Why you little-" Kyoshi's voice gets cut off as Daisetsu turns off the intercom and drags her away from the controls.

Without any warning, the robots attack. Sam effortlessly jumps out of the way and sends orbs of fire at the robots that attacked her.

Kitsume and Ganko are standing back to back, fighting off the robots. Kurama now has his whip out and is lashing out at two of the robots closest to him. Hiei is busying himself with taking care of the lasers. Yukina and Hikari somehow got separated. While Hikari doesn't like to use her fists for fighting, she's punching one of the robots with all of her strength. Yukina's using her best offensive techniques and is sending large shards of strong ice at the robots.

The demons continue their assault without trouble, shocking the mutants watching them. About five minutes into the fight, a loud piercing scream fills the room. Hiei immediately recognizes it as his sister's and runs forward to get her out of trouble. Before he gets there, something else does and lifts Yukina into the air.

Hikari awkwardly flies up into the air with Yukina, trying her best to keep her balance. "You know, Yukina, for your size you're not all that light." She half jokes.

Yukina giggles. "Sorry Hikari."

Hikari smiles and flies up a tad bit higher to dodge one of the robots. "Mind helping me a bit?"

"Of course not, Hikari." Yukina replies, forming a few ice throwing stars.

"You two okay?!" Ganko shouts up at them.

Hikari smiles, the adrenaline of the fight getting to her. "We're cool nii-chan! There's six robots left! One for all of us, except me."

Less than two minutes later, there are no robots left in the room. Hikari flies down by her half siblings and sets Yukina down before landing herself.

"Lets go find out our time!" Ganko says energetically, before bounding out of the room.

"They beat the level in less than ten minutes…" Jean says in awe. "They beat level ten in less than ten minutes."

"So we saw, Jean." Professor Xavier says.

"That's impossible." Logan growls. "They're just kids."

"Those kids could kick your ass even on one of their worse days." Genkai says, as Ganko barrels through the door.  
"Time?"

It's Kyoshi who answers the male fox hanyou. "Seven minutes and twenty-three point twelve seconds."

Ganko smirks, a fang poking over his bottom lip. "Cool. I dare you all to beat that time."

"How much." Yusuke asks, accepting the challenge.

"One hundred dollars."

"Too much, Fox. I only have fifty left." Kyoshi says. "Dai and me had a small bet and I lost."

Sam rolls her eyes as she walks into the room. "Making bets already, Punk? You should be ashamed."

Kyoshi half-heartedly glares at Sam. "Pyro, nothing you say will bring me down." She turns to the other 'non-mutants'. "So, what do you guys say? Will we accept the challenge?"

"I never back down from a challenge! Lets go!" Kuwabara yells.

Yusuke smirks. "What are you talking about, Kuwabara. You back down from a challenge from that female demon once, remember."

"Shut up, Urameshi!"

Kyoshi and Daisetsu turn to Botan as the rest of the demons enter the room.

"So, whaddya say, sis? We gonna beat their time or what?" Daisetsu asks.

Botan nods determinedly. "Give me a bat or broom and I'm ready."

"How 'bout an oar?" Daisetsu jokes.

"Shut up, Daisetsu."

Kyoshi sighs and ignores the now arguing twins. "You're on, Ganko. We'll beat that time. And we won't hold back, right you guys?"

Yusuke and Kuwabara stop fighting.

"Yeah, lets go." Yusuke says, walking toward the door.

Silence fills the room as the small group of five walks out.

"Hey, what did that one girl mean about them not holding back?" Kurt asks, wearily watching Sam.

"These idiots held back on their fighting otherwise their fun would have ended too soon." Genkai explains. "Kyoshi and Yusuke both have a hard time holding back sometimes, so even though the group is smaller it wouldn't surprise me if they beat the time."  _'Even if they are fighting without reiki.'_  She turns to Jean. "Set it to level ten for them."

Down in the danger room, the five are talking while waiting for the robots.

"We better get the same level." Kyoshi says. "Otherwise it wouldn't be fair."

Botan nods. "And I know you guys can handle just as much as them, if not more."

There's silence in the white room for a minute.

"So," Yusuke starts, breaking the silence. "You think the others are taking bets like we did?"

"Knowing Pyro and Fox, hell yes." Kyoshi says, her blue eyes darting around.

Kuwabara, who had been quiet since they entered the room, suddenly says, "Here they come!"

"Don't hold back you guys." Kyoshi says, before turning to Botan. "Botan, you got the staff?"

Botan nods, holding up what looks like a small piece of silver pipe.

"Good."

As the machines start up, the five subconsciously stand back to back. Then they all jump forward. Yusuke, Kuwabara, Daisetsu, and Kyoshi immediately start pounding their fists into the robots and rip them apart. Botan presses the area on the pipe that Kyoshi showed her, and it grows into a long staff. Botan quickly swings it into the robot going toward her, knocking it's 'head' off.

Three minutes into the battle, Kyoshi notices several robots are ganging up on Botan. So she finishes off the ones around her by kicking two and punching three. Then she jumps into the air, and pulls a sutra out from her pocket and yells the first thing that comes to her mind. "Legacy of the Phoenix!" Kyoshi quickly throws the now-charged sutra toward the robots now surrounding Botan. The faint blue glow around the sutra grows larger and changes into the form of a large blue phoenix. The pure light destroys all of the robots, leaving Botan unharmed and healed from any gained injuries.

Botan smiles at Kyoshi in thanks, before running off to help the boys. Kyoshi follows, reverting back to good ol' fist fighting. With robots. Yeah.

Three more minutes later, all the robots lay in pieces around them.

"Oh man!" Kyoshi exclaims with a grin. "Just when it was getting fun!"

"Yeah, that was pretty easy." Kuwabara says. "I could have kept going."

"Kyoshi?" Botan says, walking up to the black and blue haired girl. "What was that attack you used? It wasn't-"

"Iie, it was a holy power. One of my ancestors was a monk… or was it a priestess… Doesn't matter, it's a form of holy energy. Now I get to go out there and catch hell from Rose and Pyro. Probably Kurama too. He looks like one of the rule following types." Kyoshi says, walking toward the door. "Ganko owes us some money too. He'd better have enough."

Kyoshi walks through the door first and sees Genkai. "Hey grandma, what brings you down here?"

"Don't play dumb, Kyoshi. What was that?" Genkai asks.

Kyoshi sighs heavily. "It was one of the sutras passed down in my family. The energy behind it was a form of holy energy, sensei."

"Which attack, Kyoshi. I couldn't hear the words over Rose and Pyro's yells of anger. I'd watch out for Kurama for a while too." Genkai says.

Kyoshi looks down at the floor, her bangs covering her eyes. "I used 'Legacy of the Phoenix', Genkai."

Genkai smirks. "Good girl. Just watch out for those three and be more careful. Of course, I should have known you would have reacted that way with Botan in trouble. But next time be more aware. We do have both Yukina and Hikari with us."

Kyoshi turns red in embarrassment. "I'm in deep shit now, aren't I?"

"Of course. Extra training for you." Genkai says, before rounding on Yusuke. "And you, don't think I didn't sense the bit of extra power in that one punch. Dimwit indeed. You've earned yourself extra training with Kyoshi."

Kyoshi shrugs her shoulders a bit, trying to relieve the tension in them. "Well, that was fun for a warm-up. Can we go ahead and get some of the training done tonight, Genkai?"

"No, I need to send Kurama, Hiei, and Kitsume out to find a suitable training area." Genkai says. "You all go ahead and go sleep, you're getting up early tomorrow."

Kyoshi sighs. "Wonderful…" She grumbles before walking back to her room.

"Yeah, just great." Yusuke says sarcastically, following Kyoshi back to their hall.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Chapter 7: Night Escape and the Passage_ **

Kurama and Kitsume quietly slip through the dark halls, far behind Hiei. Kitsume's dressed in a simple red yukata and Kurama's wearing the same thing he was wearing earlier.

"I feel like I'm in one of Ganko's stupid spy movies." Kitsume grumbles.

Kurama chuckles. "Thankfully there's not as much risk in what we're doing."

"Unless we run into Logan." Kitsume agrees.

The two are silent the rest of the way to the door. Kitsume opens it and the two slip out. Once the door is shut, Kurama turns to Kitsume.

"We'll need to switch to our animal-demon forms. That way if anyone is awake they'll only see animals running across the lawn." Kurama explains.

Kitsume nods before closing her eyes and shifting. Her transformation takes a full minute. Once it's over, she stands as a large black fox with green markings and crystal blue eyes.

Kurama changes once she's done, taking less time to change to his silver-blue spirit fox form.

The two foxes quickly run off toward the forest, the same direction that Hiei had gone.

Upstairs Kitty hasn't gone to bed yet, too busy thinking about the new mutants in the mansion. Something running across the yard outside catches her attention, and she turns to look more closely out her window. Her eyes widen at the sight of the two large foxes running across the grounds, one with bright red eyes and the other with crystal blue eyes. She quickly looks around the room for a camera, but when she glances back out the window the two foxes are gone. Mystified, Kitty grabs her journal and writes down what the two foxes looked like and what time it is.

Back downstairs Yusuke has yet to go to bed. Instead, he's poking around the room in boredom. He glances at the time in boredom.  _'10 o'clock. Kurama, Kitsume, and Hiei should be outside by now.'_  Yusuke sighs and pokes at on of the walls. "This place is weird… wouldn't surprise me one bit if there was some freaky tunnel somewhere." He brightens at this thought. "That's what I'll do!"

And so, Yusuke begins examining all the walls. If the others could see him at this moment, they would all be laughing in some way.

After ten minutes of searching, poking, and prodding the walls, Yusuke gives up and slumps against a wall. "Fuck it…" A sudden crackling noise makes him look around the room suspiciously, as if a demon is going to suddenly jump out of his closet. He is forced to stop looking when the wall he is leaning on suddenly collapses underneath him!

"What the hell?" Yusuke asks, coughing forcefully.  _'Can't see a thing. Stupid dust…'_  He waits about five minutes for the dust to clear away so he can see.  _'Finally… hey, it is a tunnel.'_

"Puu!" Puu protests as Yusuke steps into the tunnel.

"Be quiet, Puu! The last thing I need is for somebody to wake up and find out you're here. Yeah, that'd be a lot of fun to explain. 'Tell me Yusuke, how is it you managed to get a giant blue bird on the jet? And what is Puu?' 'Oh gee, I don't know. Maybe he's a giant blue phoenix that just happens to be my spirit beast!' That would be a cheerful conversation." Yusuke says sarcastically. "Let's not forget the ever-so-cheerful comments I'd get from Genkai and some of the others."

"Prrruu…" Puu says quietly.

"Don't worry, Puu. I'll be right back. I just want to check this out." Yusuke explains, before turning away from the large phoenix and going into the darkness.

"Prruu…" Puu trills sadly.

Kitsume carefully observes the clearing they found, cautiously sniffing the air.

"It seems that the younger mutants have used this clearing before." Kurama comments softly. "We may have to find another clearing to use."

"But this one's the closest." Kitsume says, standing up. "And yet it's rather far. Botan and Kuwabara may not be able to keep up if we were to run out here to train."

"Botan may, if Genkai allows her to use her oar. And Kuwabara should be able to make it. After all, he's kept up with us for the year and a half we've worked with him." Kurama says. "But lets keep looking. Perhaps there's another clearing close by."

"There is none." Hiei says from a tree branch. "This is the only clearing around for miles."

Kitsume carefully sniffs the air again and examines a few plants. "No one has used this clearing for about three months. It should be pretty safe for now." She turns to the two boys. "Hiei, can you go tell master Genkai we've found a spot?"

"Hn."

Kitsume turns her attention to Kurama, knowing Hiei has left. "Kurama, we'll need to make this place a little safer. I can't do much, since my power is fire and illusions, but you've got control over plants, right?" At Kurama's nod, she continues. "The grass should be a bit softer, and there's patches in some area's. I noticed a few spiny weeds growing, I'll burn those. Then I'll cast a few minor illusions and set up something so we know if a human or demon has been in her from this point on. We won't register on it though."

Kurama nods in agreement. Slowly, the two work on fixing up the clearing.

Yusuke grumbles something under his breath as he walks along the cramped tunnel.  _'Stupid shit, I swear. Up, down, circles… stupid tunnel won't make up it's fucking mind on which way to go. And I swear I saw that beam at least ten times.'_  He looks around the tunnel. _'Hey, there's a new spot. Didn't see that before.'_  Silently, Yusuke walks over to the even smaller tunnel and walks down it. After five minutes he comes to a split.  _'Better keep going straight, the other one's pretty dark.'_  Having made his decision, Yusuke keeps going until he reaches the end of the tunnel. "Weird, why's it end here… and what's with the breeze…" He reaches out and presses the wall. He jumps back with a start when the wall slides open, like a shoji door would. After listening closely, Yusuke deems it safe enough to walk out.

"Holy shit…" Yusuke murmurs, gazing at the sleeping raven haired girl.  _'No way, it leads to Kyoshi's room! Why Kyoshi's though? Hers is right beside mine. A door connecting the two rooms would have been better.'_

A low growl startles Yusuke out of his thoughts, making him quickly look around for the source of the growl. A second later he notices two glowing blue eyes and realizes where the growling is coming from.

"Hey, relax, Kokoro. It's just me, Yusuke." He whispers.

Kokoro sniff the air carefully, before laying back down to watch Yusuke with a wary eye.

Yusuke looks around one last time.  _'Now that I know where it leads, I know I don't have to come down here anymore. It's probably pretty late, I'd better get to bed.'_  as he turns to leave, a small sob makes him turn back around. 'What the…?'

"Iie… iie, nii-chan. Onegai… onegai onii-chan iie tachisaru Kyoshi-chan." Kyoshi mumbles, tears streaming down her face. "Kaname-nii-chan, onegai…"

Yusuke looks at Kyoshi in bewilderment when he hears her say Sniper's real name.  _'Her brother is Sniper? There's no way…'_ __  
  
Kyoshi hiccups softly, obviously distraught.

Yusuke's gaze upon Kyoshi softens, and he quietly crosses the room to her bed and sits on the floor. "Hey Kyoshi, you okay? Kyoshi?"

"Iie tachisaru…"

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere, Kyoshi." Yusuke says softly. "I promise." He carefully wipes away one of her tears. "Even when this stupid mission is over, we can hang out. How's that sound, huh?"

Yusuke sits there stroking Kyoshi's soft hair until her breathing evens out and she stops crying. Then he smiles and stands up before walking out of the room back through the tunnel.

Kyoshi's eyes flicker open in time to the door closing behind Yusuke. Puzzled, she reaches up to her cheek where he had wiped away her tear and then smiles.  _'Arigatou Yusuke-kun… maybe I was wrong about you…'_  With a soft sigh, Kyoshi closes her eyes and falls back asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8: Motorcycle and the Mall_

Kyoshi yawns as she walks down the stairs. Today she's dressed in a green shirt that reads, 'I love nerds' and black baggy pants with small silver chains. On her feet are a pair of navy blue slippers and in one hand are her black and blue sneakers. She blearily makes her way into the kitchen and collapses into a chair beside Ganko, her shoes falling to the floor with a soft 'thud'.

"Perv, pass the bacon…" She mumbles sleepily.

Ganko grins. "Hey Kyo, someone dropped this off for you…!" He dangles a blue marble key chain in Kyoshi's face.

Kyoshi's eyes widen and she snatches the key chain and two keys. "No way in hell…!" She jumps up and quickly runs out of the room.

Ganko's grin goes wider as he runs after her. Yusuke, Daisetsu, Kurt, and Bobby follow quickly.

Logan pauses as Kyoshi rushes by him out the door. Curious, but not willing to show it, he leans against the doorframe to see what she's doing. He raises his eyebrows as Daisetsu, Yusuke, and Ganko all run past him while Kurt and Bobby stop at the door.

Kyoshi halfway to the gate and gapes at the black, blue, and red motorcycle sitting there with a large blue ribbon on it.  _'Holy shit… But who…? Why…?'_  Forgetting her questions momentarily, she jogs over to the motorcycle and, noticing an envelope, picks up the envelope and opens it, sliding out a card. Her eyes widen as she reads it and by the time she's finished, small tears are in her eyes. Smiling sadly, she hugs the card to her chest, and runs one hand along the handlebars.

"Damn, Kyo. Someone must really love you." Ganko comments. "Hey listen, will you take me for a ride later?"

Kyoshi raises an eyebrow at the black and red haired boy. "You're going to half-insult me and then ask for a ride." She sighs and then shrugs. "Aww, what the hell. Why not?" She throws her arms around Daisetsu and Ganko's shoulders and steers them inside. "So, what are my two favorite fellow punk-idiots up to today, ne? Any insidious plots planned? Thieving to do, maybe? People to drive up the wall?"

Ganko laughs. "Naw, not yet anyway. How 'bout you, Dai?"

"Nope, notta clue. But hey, we forgot the detective-boy back there." He points over his shoulder to Yusuke.

Kyoshi turns her head slightly and grins at Yusuke. "Hey Yusuke, come up here and join us! We need another fellow punk-idiot to help us out!" She shoves Ganko away from her and throws her arm around Yusuke instead. "So Yusuke, ever play any good pranks on anyone?"

Ganko eyes Kyoshi's back for a moment while her, Yusuke, and Daisetsu are conversing, before running and jumping onto her back. Kyoshi nearly falls over due to his weight. Grinning, the black and red haired fox demon wraps his legs around Kyoshi's waist and wraps his arms down over her neck.

"'lo there lass, pleasant day?" He asks with a grin.

Kyoshi merely rolls her eyes. "Well, that's one way for you to join us." She tests out putting weight on her legs and almost falls over again. "Damn, fox-boy. What the hell you been eating?"

Ganko's grin grows wider and he childishly says, "I ate da chocolate, Kyo-chan."

Kyoshi rolls her eyes again before, to the amusement of the mutants standing in the doorway, her, Yusuke, and Daisetsu begin walking once again, this time with Ganko on Kyoshi's back.

"Hey guys, how much you wanna bet that Kitsume, Botan, and some of the other girls are gonna wanna drag us all shopping?" Daisetsu asks randomly.

"There is no way I'm taking that bet." Is Kyoshi's immediately reply, as the small group goes past the mutants in the door.  
"Me neither." Yusuke says darkly. "The last time we had a mission in which we needed nice clothes for an infiltration, the girls- Botan and Keiko, a friend of mine, and Shizuru, Kuwabara's sister- they dragged us off to the mall faster than you can say, 'spirit gun'."

* * *

 

"MALL TRIP!"

After this small exclamation from half the girls in the room, Kyoshi is now repetitively hitting her head on the table, Ganko and Daisetsu are trying to find a way out of going, Yusuke and Kuwabara are fighting, Hiei is… somewhere, Sam is somewhere as well, and Hikari, Yukina, and Kurama are politely conversing.

Botan looks around the room at the two teams and sighs.  _'It will be a tiring day…'_

* * *

 

_**The Mall** _

"Where are they?" Kitty whines. "They should have gotten here before we did!"

Kitsume looks up from her book for a moment. "Kyoshi has the best sense of direction out of anyone I know. When doing something unimportant and when she's riding her motorcycle, she tends to ignore that sense and take long cuts."

"Meaning…?"

Kitsume sighs. "Meaning, Kyoshi, Yusuke, and Ganko are being purposely late."

A few feet away, Daisetsu, Bobby, Kurt, and Kuwabara are tossing a large rock around. Yukina, Kurama, Sam, Hikari, and Hiei are silently watching the others, while waiting to hear the tell-tale sound of Kyoshi's new motorcycle.

"WHOOO-HOOOOOO!"

"YEEEE-HAWWWWW!"

"YAAAA-HOOOO!"

"And thus they arrive." Kitsume comments dryly, looking up to see Kyoshi, Yusuke, and Ganko soar over their heads on the motorcycle. Yusuke is holding tightly on Kyoshi's waist, with a large grin on his face, Kyoshi has on her devilish smirk, and Ganko has his hands up in the air and is sitting on his knee's.

"Rose, your brother is a nutcase." Sam says blandly.

"I have no clue where he gets it." Is Kitsume's simple reply. With a sigh she closes her book and sets it under a seat in Scott's car. "Of course, we also have no clue where Kyoshi and Daisetsu get it either."

"And if anyone asks," Sam suddenly says. "We do not know them."

As soon as the motorcycle lands on both wheels, Kyoshi directs it over to the spot inbetween Scott and Jean's cars.

"Ya-ho." She greets, as Ganko jumps off the motorcycle and Yusuke half stumbles off.

Daisetsu immediately grabs Ganko's arm and drags him off into the mall with a yell of, "Later guys! We gotta hit Spencers, Hot Topic, the arcade, the bookstore, and any random video game store we see! Ja!"

Botan puts her hands on her hips. "He does this every time I get him to the mall! Surely it won't take them the whole time we're here to go to those places!"

"That's like saying my sister doesn't try to kill me whenever I miss school…" Kuwabara grumbles.

"Surely she's not that bad, Kazuma-kun." Hikari says softly.

Yukina places a hand on Hikari's shoulder. "I've met Shizuru-san, and she's very nice."

"Now, let's go shopping!" Kitty yells excitedly.

* * *

 

All of the girls are currently trying on clothes. Of course, the exceptions are Kyoshi, Samantha, Hikari, and Yukina.

"I. Hate. Shopping." Kyoshi manages to get out between growls.

"Hear, hear." Bobby says dully, from his spot on the wall beside the ebony-and-blue-haired girl.

"I still don't get why we have to be here." Sam (mutant) whines.

"It's one of those unwritten laws that says guys have to carry girls shopping bags." Kuwabara replies, staring blankly at the ceiling. "Wish they'd hurry up though. It should be a crime that it takes this long for them to pick out clothes."

Kyoshi glances over at Kuwabara. "If what you said is true, then why the hell do me and Sam have to stand here?"

"Uhh…"

"It's because the rest of the girls are inconsiderate fools who don't pay attention to what everyone else feels." The red-haired dog demon remarks. "And Rose calls herself an empath. I'm more of an empath than she is."

"Heard that!" Kitsume yells from inside the dressing room.

Yusuke sighs and stands up. "Screw this, I'm out of here. Who's-"

"Calm down, Yusuke!" Botan says, popping up out of nowhere.

"Gah! Botan don't do that!" Comes several cries.

Botan smiles. "Now, now. Calm down you guys. We're done now! After this we can just all split up."

"THANK GOD!" Kyoshi, Yusuke, and several of the other guys exclaim.

"Well I- It's not that bad!" The cheerful grim reaper exclaims. "Now, lets get out of here and go have some real fun!"

"Botan," Kyoshi states, throwing an arm around Botan's shoulders. "You are now my hero."

"Ano… okay then." Botan says uncertainly.

**_With Kyoshi and Yusuke_ **

About fifteen minutes later Kyoshi and Yusuke are boredly wandering around the mall.

"So, where is everyone else again?" Yusuke asks.

Kyoshi sighs. "Well… Kitsume, Kurama, Hikari, Botan, and the rest of the mutants went to see a movie. Ganko and Daisetsu went off to random stores in the mall. Sam, Hiei, Yukina, and Kuwabara went off to get ice cream and just sit around and talk. And we are wandering around with absolutely nothing to do." She easily replies.

"Well, lets find something to do then." Yusuke says, scanning the mall for something to do. "Hey look, there's an arcade!" He says, pointing. "Lets go hang there for a while." He turns to Kyoshi only to find she's not there any more. Yusuke blinks and looks back to the arcade, where Kyoshi is waiting for him. He blinks and a small smile crosses his face. "Damn, she's fast."

_**With Ganko and Daisetsu** _

So far the two boys have been to Hot Topic, Spencers, the arcade, F.Y.E., two bookstores, and a hot-dog stand. They've both bought several shirts, baggy pants, a few joke items, two video games, several manga, and many hotdogs. The two are now on their way to a small store that holds weapons and fighting gear, mainly just for show. But for Ganko, Daisetsu, and the rest of the second team, they all use the weapons in fighting.

"I want to know something." Ganko seethes, glaring at the blue-haired spirit guide beside him. "Why the heck is it that I always wind up carrying over half of the stuff we get?"

Daisetsu smirks. "It's because you, my dear kitsune hanyou, are much stronger than I, who am but-"

"-A lowly spirit guide. I know. I've heard your stupid little speech over a billion times by now." Ganko growls. "And I thought I was good at mimicking that crazy old monk."

Daisetsu grins and shrugs. "Well, I  _am_  related to him. You're just good at it because kitsune can act overdramatic very easily."

"I dare you to repeat that." Ganko growls, as they walk into the small weaponry shop.

Daisetsu lazily continues grinning. "No thanks. 'Cause I do know if I do repeat it I'm as good as dead." He examines a sword on the wall. "Hmm… the weapons here aren't all that good… Most of these are just for show."

Ganko nods as he examines a set of daggers. "Indeed. These are made of weak metals not suitable for even chopping carrots." He picks one up and attempts to balance the blade on two fingers. The dagger immediately falls to the floor. "The balance is pathetic. As is the craftsmanship." He frowns and picks up the dagger. "It's barely sharp as well."

"Hmm…" Daisetsu looks at a sword encased in a glass case. "This one is excellent though. I can tell from right here the quality of the metal is great and the craftsmanship is very good. Of course," He grins at Ganko. "Nothing can rival good ol' Makaian blades."

Ganko almost laughs as he sets the dagger back on the shelf. "Correction, nothing can rival Areia-san and Shinri-sama's blades." He sighs and moves away from the shelves. "I can't believe we were stupid enough to leave most of our blades at home."

Daisetsu nods in agreement to their foolishness. "Although you're the lucky one since you can make your weapon out of ice. It may not be as good, but you have something." He sighs and brushes his bangs out of the eyes. "I only had enough time to pack my tantou, sakabatou, katana, throwing daggers, and my oar."

"You always have your oar with you, Dai." Ganko says agitatedly. "And isn't the tantou the one Kyoshi let you borrow?" He asks, emphasizing 'borrow'.

Daisetsu lazily smiles. "Yeah, well, I convinced her to let me keep it. I just had to let her go on a joy ride on my oar. Nothing big."

Ganko nods in understanding, knowing of Kyoshi's love for speed. "Lets go see if the fighting clothes are any good before we leave. The smell's already getting to me."

Daisetsu nods in understanding, and the two teens go over to examine the fighting clothes, which are, strangely enough, from Japan. The two examine the clothing, and find that they are almost perfectly made. They quickly pick out fighting uniforms for themselves and then proceed to get something for everyone else.

They found a navy blue cloak for Kyoshi that would go perfect over her taijiya uniform. For Sam they found a white fighting uniform with black and red dragons embroidered on it. For Kitsume they found a silver Chinese-ish fighting dress that has flames on it and a red obi. For Hikari they found a simple amethyst kimono with a slit that would go up to an inch above her knee, so that she'd be able to easily move. A dark purple sash came with it, instead of the traditional obi. The only other person they were able to find something for was Yusuke. They got him two karate-like outfits. One in blue and the other in green. Both of them have a white belt to go along with it.

Daisetsu had picked out a fighting uniform similar to the one they got for same, only his is dark purplish-blue. Ganko found two haori and hakama sets. One had a sky blue haori with blue hakama. The other had a silver haori and black hakama with pale blue ice-like designs.

After paying for the clothes, ("I'll be broke for a year!" Ganko complained.) the teenage boys leave the small store and begin wandering aimlessly around the mall, looking for one of the others.

"Ganko-nii-chan! Daisetsu-kun!"

Ganko and Daisetsu blink and stop in there tracks, before looking around for the small multi-color haired girl.

Hikari quickly runs up to them. "We have to leave now. Xavier-sama called Jean-san and told her that a few of the younger mutants ran into some trouble and need our help."

Ganko nods quickly, but Daisetsu takes a second to think. "Has everyone been told?"

Hikari looks down. "Everyone except Kyoshi-chan and Yusuke-san. None of us can find them and the only people who could are refusing to even look."

Ganko and Daisetsu sigh, knowing exactly who is refusing to look.

"Okay, lets get going sis. I'm sure Yusuke and Kyoshi are together. With those two together, there's no doubt they'll be able to find their way back to the institute." Ganko says comfortingly. "Now, lets go help out the kids!" He exclaims, before taking off with Hikari and Daisetsu to where the others are waiting at Scott and Jean's cars.


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9: What! We Have to Go to School!_

"I can't believe they left us without even trying to find us!" Kyoshi rants, as her and Yusuke step into the institute.

"It's because we're not mutants." Yusuke says. "So we wouldn't have been any help. Besides, we were hiding from them, remember?"

Kyoshi blinks comically and thinks for a minute. "Oh yeah…! Guess I forgot." She sighs and looks around the hall. "So, how 'bout we go find Genkai and bug her. Maybe we'll get some early training." She grins. "You think they have any good video games in this junk ova place?"

Yusuke snorts. "In a mansion with a bunch of goody-two-shoe kids? Not likely."

Kyoshi nods in agreement. "Too true. So, we gonna find Genkai or what? It's the only thing to do ya know."

"Except us just being complete lazy and sleeping the day away." He shrugs. "Yeah, why not. I've never turned down a chance to bug grandma, why start now?"

"Good." Kyoshi replies, before taking off down the hall. "Race you!"

Yusuke stares for a second. "Hey, wait a minute! Tell me that before you take off running, stupid!"

Kyoshi merely laughs. "Catch me if you can, detective!"

**I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N.**

"Dammit! Where the hell is she!" Yusuke yells, annoyed at the fact they haven't found Genkai after looking for ahalf hour.

"The hell if I know." Kyoshi grumbles. "Let me think for a minute." She says, before slumping against the wall and falling to the ground. "Grandma's hobbies… grandma's hobbies…" She grins and snaps her fingers. "I got it! When Genkai has nothing better to do, she plays video games!"

Yusuke's eyes widen slightly as he remembers something. "I think I saw a game system in the living room."

Kyoshi jumps up. "Then what are we waiting for? We've been looking for her forever, now that we have an idea of where she's at, we might as well go! Now c'mon!"

The both of them take off running down the hall, in the direction they hope the living room is at.

**I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N.**

"GRANDMA!"

Genkai doesn't even look up from the video game she's playing with Jamie. "Nice to see you dimwits too."

Kyoshi bounds into the room and falls down onto the couch. "What are you two playing?" She asks, studying the screen.

Yusuke walks in behind her and tries to sit down. He only gets kicked. "Move it, Kyoshi!"

"Move what?" She asks innocently, pulling a sucker from her pocket.

Yusuke's left eye twitches. "Move your legs, dumb ass."

"Language, Yusuke." Genkai says, as Kyoshi moves her legs and sits upright. "And Kyoshi, what does it look like we're playing?"

Kyoshi studies the screen. "Well, it's obviously a racing game dealing with jet ski's… Hey, are you playing JetX20? I love that game!" She sticks the sucker into her mouth after saying this.

Jamie smiles, and glances away from the TV for a second. "You do? This is my favorite game to play because I can always beat the others."

"I'll play you later then, kiddo. I've beaten Ganko, Daisetsu, and Sam loads of times." Kyoshi says.

Jamie nods, happy he's found someone else to play games with.

**I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N.**

After a while of playing video games, the four hear the sound of the door slamming open and then shut. Soon several of the boys come running into the room. Almost automatically, Jamie sighs and hands the control over to Bobby before leaving the room. Genkai frowns and glances over at Kyoshi, who's frowning as well.

'I'll talk to Kyoshi and Ganko about this later… Yusuke may be some help as well…'

"KYYYYOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHIIIIIIII!"

Said demoness blanches as her hyperactive kitsune friend latches onto her waist. "Konnichiwa, Ganko-kun."

Ganko smiles and buries his nose in Kyoshi's neck. "'lo."

Kyoshi stiffins automatically at the contact. "Ganko…" She takes a breath. "Ganko, get off." She glares at Kitsume as the fox demoness walks into the room. "Exactly how much ice cream did he have?"

"About six bowls." Kitsume replies, stalking over to the two and dragging Ganko off Kyoshi. "And now I'm going to go lock him in his room until his sugar high disperses. Good day."

A few relatively boring days pass. One day they had headed down to the danger room for training, Genkai had talked Kyoshi into giving Jamie self-defense lessons, which Samantha had promptly decided to sit in on and watch, and they were assigned nights to cook. During the night, Kyoshi and Yusuke would take Kokoro and Puu out to let them get some exercise. The lilac cat and large blue phoenix got along perfectly, except for a few minor episodes once or twice. Also, Kurama and Kitsume continued to work hard on the clearing. By the forth night they have it completely finished. Genkai checked it out that morning and deemed it ready for training. Unfortunately, the first training session was set for that night, the night before school.

Kyoshi had pretty much thrown a fit when she heard they had to go to school. Yusuke almost did, but found it more enjoyable to watch Kyoshi sulk and carry on. So did Ganko and Daisetsu for that matter.

"What the hell do you mean we have school tomorrow!" Kyoshi cries angrily. "Dammit!"

"Watch your language, Kyoshi." Genkai warns.

"Sorry, Genkai." Kyoshi replies. "But still, why did you have to wait until now to tell us? I mean come on, I figured it was still summer!" She yells at Logan.

"Watch your tongue, pup." Logan growls.

Kyoshi automatically bristles. "Call me a pup again and I'll- Mmmphh!"

"Calm down, koneko." Samantha says. "The last thing you need is more training."

"The hell I don't!"

"Kyoshi." Genkai warns.

"Oh, bite me!"

Ganko, who's right beside Kyoshi, chuckles and starts to say. "I would love-" However, he gets backhanded by her. "Itai… Kyoshi…!" He whines.

"Perv." Kyoshi mumbles before stalking off.

Genkai turns to her and calls out, "We also have training later, punk. Don't be late."

"WHAT THE HELL!"

We will now skip forward in time in order to avoid Kyoshi's major cursing and 'small' tantrum at gaining harsh training from Genkai due to her cursing around younger kids.

**I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N.**

The whole group of Spirit Detectives stand looking around the clearing.

"So… this is it?" Yusuke asks. "Not very impressive."

"What were you expecting, dimwit? My compound to mysteriously appear here?" Genkai says. "Now, you and Kyoshi get started on your laps. I want one-hundred around this clearing before we go in. No walking."

Kyoshi and Yusuke both look around the large clearing. (Both: -.-;)

Kyoshi growls, "You have got to be kidding."

"I'm not, get going." Genkai says, waving them off.

Grumbling, the two spirit detectives set off on their jogging. And here the fools were looking forward to extra training for misbehaving. Tsk, tsk. Anyway, lets get to the others.

"You all will be split apart from your teammates. You have to get used to fighting with one another. Now, Ganko, you fight Hiei. Ki- Hiei don't give me that look, you're fighing Ganko. Kitsume, you can go against Kuwabara. Kuwabara, I don't want to hear one word about your honor code. If I do, I'll let the girls beat you up as much as they want and none of us will heal you." Genkai looks around at the remaining fighters. "Lets see… Hikari, you and Yukina do some sparring. Botan you can join them." She smirks at seeing the remaining two. "Kurama, Sam, you two are left. You pair up."

Daisetsu clears his throat. "Hey Genkai, what am I gonna do?"

Genkai's smirk grows. "You can spar with me."

The male spirit guide stares blankly at the elderly master of reiki. "W-wait a second, what? You'll kill me!"

"You better believe it!" Kyoshi yells, jogging past.

Genkai raises an eyebrow at Kyoshi's pace. "Kyo, pick it up a bit. I said running, remember."

And thus, Kyoshi's cursing starts anew, and gets louder as Yusuke runs by and makes a degrading remark. Genkai shakes her head at the two dimwitted spirit detectives and turns away from them to see everyone else already fighting.

Kitsume's using her fox-fire sai, two metal sai surrounded by fox-fire, against Kuwabara who's using his usual spirit sword. Kitsume is slowly goading him into fighting her, carefully enraging him enough to fight.

Sam and Kurama are going at it, whip verses whip. Unsurprisingly, Sam's flame whip keeps burning away Kurama's rose whip, causing the silver fox to continuously regrow the vine.

Across the clearing are the three girls taking turns at sparring each other. Right now Botan's cheering the two on while Hikari and Yukina are doing some soft-sparring. It gradually grows rougher and they begin moving faster.

Ganko has pulled out his twisted ice staff and is using it against Hiei, who is, as usual, using his sword. Ganko's using his staff as more of a sword though, as it's shorter than usual. The two of them were actually quite good together. Hardly any of the time are the weapons not blocking one another.

Soon, Daisetsu and Genkai are also moving quickly, sparring using reiki. Granted, Genkai has to tone hers down a bit so she doesn't badly hurt Daisetsu, but it's just a little. Being a spirit guide does have its perks, because most of the time reiki won't hurt you as badly!

After about a half and hour, Kyoshi and Yusuke finish up with their 100 laps and begin sparring without using reiki or youki. As with the others, it slowly starts getting fast and more brutal until the do wind up using reiki.

Several hours later everyone is wearing down and they all have a wound of some kind, whether it's shallow or deep. Hikari has a sprained ankle, Ganko has a few sword wounds, mainly on his arms, Hiei has ice burns from where Ganko's staff/sword slammed into him, Yusuke, Kyoshi, and Daisetsu are all exhausted to the point of collapsing, and Kurama's nearly out of energy.

Now they are heading back to the mansion for overdue rest.

**I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N.**

_The Next Morning_

Ganko stomps down the stairs in an unusually bad mood. He's wearing a pair of baggy, dark blue jeans with a single gold chain wrapped around it. His hair is wet and dripping on the floor and on the towel he has wrapped around his neck. Currently, he's wearing no shirt.

"Kyoshi…!" He growls, spotting the black and blue haired figure sitting at the table chatting with some of the mutants. "Kyoshi!" He barks angrily.

His best friend automatically looks up. "Yo." She says, unfazed by his shirtless form.

However, all of the other girls at the institute are exactly used to seeing shirtless guys. And poor Ororo was the only adult in the room, besides Genkai.

"Mr. Ganko, I must insist that you-" Ororo starts to say.

"Hey, Punk, I want my shirt!"

"Sorry, I'm wearing it baka."

"Mr. Ganko-"

"Yeah, but it's my damn shirt."

"So?"

"Mr. Ganko!"

"WHAT?"

"Fox, put a shirt on." Genkai says. "Not everyone's used to boys walking around half naked, you know."

"Fine, fine." Ganko merely waves it off. "You heard her, Kyoshi, I have to wear a shirt. Hand it over."

Kyoshi narrows her eyes at her fellow punk friend. "Ganko, if you hadn't noticed, I'm wearing the damn shirt. I'm not taking it off."

"Fine then, give me my purple shirt."

"You mean the silk one with the blood stains on it?"

Ganko glares at the smirking reiki user before grumbling something and storming out of the room.

"Sucker…" Kyoshi says triumphantly.

"I heard that, Punk! Now get up here and give me my shirt before I raid your damn closet! Make that suitcase for you!"

Kyoshi grumbles something under her breath as she stand up and stalks out of the kitchen. "Kurt, Dai, if either of you so much as go near my plate, I will make sure you pay!"

Kurt gulps and edges away from her plate, while Daisetsu barely glances at it. Bobby and Sam laugh at Kurts reaction, Scott smirks, and everyone else is too busy talking to pay attention to them.

Down on one end of the table are Yukina, Hikari, Kitty, Rouge, Amara, and Rhane.

"Mou, Keiro no Hi is coming up soon, ne Yukina-chan?" Hikari asks. "We should do something nice for Genkai-sensei."

Yukina thinks for a minute. "Ano… Kitty-san, what day is it today?"

"I dunno." Kitty says, before yelling down the table to Jean. "Hey Jean, like, what's today's date!"

"Thursday, September the 8th, Kitty." Jean replies.

"Thanks Jean!" Kitty yells down to the red-head.

Jean merely nods in reply and goes back to talking to Kitsume, Kurama, and Botan.

Kitty turns back to the small group she's in. "So, why'd you, like, wanna know what the date is today?"

Hikari decides to tell them. "See, the third Monday in September is a special holiday called 'Keiro no Hi'. Respect for the elderly and longevity is celebrated on that day."

Yukina giggles. "Genkai-sensei dislikes it when we do something special for her on that day, says it makes her feel too old. But I always do anyway. It's the least I can do for her letting me stay at her compound."

"Well, that's interesting." Amara comments. "So, what other holidays do you guys celebrate? Do you celebrate Christmas and New Years?"

Yukina nods. "Yes, but I think it's a little different than yours. Christmas isn't celebrated by everyone, and when it is celebrated we just decorate our homes and exchange gifts with our friends. There's also a special meal we eat for Christmas."

"I love the Christmas cake that Ganko-nii-chan makes." Hikari says. Noticing the interested looks on their faces, she goes on to explain. "Christmas cake is just sponge cake with some whipped cream and strawberries on top of it! It's really good. Maybe I can convince Ganko-nii-chan to make it."

"Sounds heavenly." Rhane comments with a sigh.

"Anyway, we hold Bonenkai parties or 'Forget-the-Year' parties throughout December." Hikari says, taking a small bite of bacon. "It's pretty much just social gatherings between friends. Then we celebrate Shogatsu from January first to January third. Shogatsu is New Years and our most important holiday."

Yukina nods again. "Yes, we decorate our homes with ornaments of pine, bamboo, and plum trees and clothing and houses are cleaned. On New Years eve we have toshikoshi soba, which symbolizes longevity."

"Ganko, Kyoshi, Daisetsu, and I have taken to watching Kohaku uta Gassen on Shogatsu eve. It's TV program that features many of Japan's most famous J-pop and enka singers." Hikari says.

"Lets see… January first we get up early and watch the first sunset of the year. Genkai makes sure I do no work on that day, since it's believed the New Year is best started out stress free and happy." Yukina says.

"It's tradition to visit a shrine during Shogatsu, but me and the others visit Genkai's compound. It's kinda like a temple anyway." Hikari says. "When we go over, if we're lucky Genkai lets us play hanetsuki, takoage, and karuta."

The other four girls eyes widen at hearing all of the information.

"Wow, so, what kind of food do ya'll eat?" Rouge asks.

"Hmm… osechi ryori, otoso, and ozoni with mochi. Oh, and houjicha for those who don't like or can't drink otoso." Yukina says, recalling the most popular foods to eat.

Kitty looks at them confused. "What are those foods?"

"Otoso is sweetened rice wine, ozoni is a soup and mochi is a sticky, cooked rice, houjicha is green tea, and osechi ryori is a type of cuisine." Hikari says. "Sorry about slipping into Japanese, we're not quite used to using English all the time yet."

After a half an hour, a bit more chaos, this time involving one of Yusuke and Kuwabara's infamous fights, it's finally time for school. This time it's Kyoshi, Ganko, and Samantha on the motorcycle because Sam refused to ride with 'the idiot git and insufferable hybrid.'

For their fist day, Kyoshi wore Ganko's black silk shirt with blue flames running up it and baggy navy blue jeans with three silver chains on it. In one ear she has three silver hoops (one on the top of her ear) and in the other she has two. Her nails are painted a bright eye-catching electric blue and her hair is pulled up into a loose high ponytail with silver hairsticks sticking into the band.

Ganko's wearing the purple silk shirt he was arguing over with Kyoshi earlier and is wearing everything else he was earlier, minus the towel. A new addition is the single small gold hoop in one of his ears and the black converses on his feet.  
Kitsume's wearing a black spaghetti strap shirt with a white short sleeved shirt under it. Instead of her usual skirt, she's wearing flared black jeans. Her hair is pulled back in a low ponytail for once, and she's wearing gold dolphin earrings and black sandals.

Hikari's wearing a mint green, short-sleeved turtleneck shirt and faded blue Capri's. On her feet are a pair of white tennis shoes. Like always, her multi-colored hair is braided back.

Sam's wearing a red short-sleeved shirt that reads, 'I only look innocent' and a pair of loose, black jeans. Unusually, her nails are painted black with red on the tips. On her feet are black tennis shoes and her hair is up in her two ponytail's as always.

Daisetsu and Botan are wearing almost matching outfits. Both of them are wearing black short-sleeved shirts with the words, 'Grim Reaper' on them in red (creations of their own) and black jeans. Botan has her hair up in it's usual high ponytail and Daisetsu has his hair down. While Botan's wearing her sandals like always, Daisetsu's wearing red converses.

Yusuke's wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and has a green jacket over top of it. He's also wearing a pair of light blue jeans and his old, patched up used-to-be-white sneakers. Like always, his hair is slicked back.

Kuwabara's wearing a black t-shirt and a large white and orange jacket over top of it. His jeans are a faded blue and he's wearing black boots. His orange hair's in the usual style.

Kurama's wearing a pale blue t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Kitsume had somehow talked him into pulling his hair back at least into a low ponytail. On his feet are a pair of grayish sneakers.

Hiei's wearing (dun… dun… dunnn…!) all black as usual. Well, except for the two white belts and his white headband, everything is black. He's not wearing his cloak for once since Genkai made him take it off.

As I'm not even about to go into detail over what all the mutants are wearing, just put them in something they'd usually wear.

**I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N. I.L.L.U.S.I.O.N.**

Kyoshi slams open her bedroom door and stomps into her bedroom. Kokoro looks up from his spot on her pillow, and jumps down just in time to miss being hit by Kyoshi.

"I fucking hate school. Damn teachers."

Today was hell for Kyoshi. Why? Because school is hell.

By the end of the day, the teachers were determined that Yusuke, Kyoshi, Ganko, Kuwabara, Samantha, Hiei, and Daisetsu were going to be horrible trouble makers that need to be watched every little second. Then there was the rich little preppy brat that wouldn't leave Ganko alone… but lets not get into that. Lets just say she won't be able to talk for a while.

Needless to say, by the end of the day Hikari, Botan, and Yukina have taken their places as 'the nice girls', Kitsume and Kurama are the 'smart ones', Kuwabara, Yusuke, Kyoshi, Ganko, and Daisetsu are 'the punks', and Hiei and Sam are 'the two you don't want to mess with or meet in a dark ally'.

"Knock knock!" A cheerful British accented voice calls through her door.

"Whaddya want, Botan?" Kyoshi asks, her voice muffled by her pillow. Kokoro chooses this time to jump back up on Kyoshi's bed and make himself at home on her head.

Botan cracks open the door and looks at Kyoshi with a smile. "Well, since we've had a long, hard day, me and the other girls decided to have a small girls night. Well, Sam didn't exactly agree… but that's just a minor problem. She said she'd come as long as we don't force her into anything."

"Kokoro, get off my damn head." Kyoshi growls, before she's able to sit up and answer Botan. Kokoro retakes his spot on 'his' pillow. "Girls night, huh? Yeah, why not. Whose room?"

Botan's smile growls wider. "Yukina's. Dress in your pajama's before you come, alright? Be there by seven!" With a quick wave, Botan shuts the door and practically bounces down the hallway.

"Well," Says Kyoshi. "This should be interesting."


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10: Girls Night Equals Trouble_

Kyoshi and Samantha, dressed in their pj's, are walking down the hall to Yukina's room. Kyoshi is wearing navy blue and white baseball-style pj's, has her hair braided back, and is wearing midnight blue slippers. Samantha is wearing a white spaghetti strap shirt, red shorts, red slippers on her feet, and her dark red cloak. Her red and silver hair is up in ponytails as usual.

"This is stupid." Samantha comments.

Kyoshi snorts. "Yeah, tell me something I don't know, Sam. I still wonder what made me agree and then actually come. Probably the prospect of seeing you there for once."

Samantha growls. "I told the vixen I'd go only if you did."

"Wait a sec," Kyoshi says, stopping. Sam stops as well. "Kit told me that you agreed to come as long as you didn't have to do anything you didn't want to. She said nothing about you coming if I come."

A fireball forms in Samantha's hand as her anger spikes. "VIXEN! GET YOUR NO-GOOD ASS OUT HERE NOW!"

"YEAH ROSE!" Kyoshi yells as well. "GET OUT HERE!"

The door cracks open at their insistent yells and Kitsume steps out. "What is it, you two?" She blinks when she notices the flames surrounding Sam's fists. "Oops…" She looks up at them. "I can explain-"

"I don't want to hear it, Rose." Sam growls. "Just let us in before I change my mind."

Kitsume stands to the side to let her two fellow teammates into Yukina's room. Sam has to practically drag Kyoshi in behind her in order to get the punk Spirit Detective into the room.

Inside the room is Yukina, Hikari, Botan, Kitty, Amara, Rahne, Jean, Rouge, Tabitha, and Jubilee. Hikari, Yukina, Rahne, and Jean are discussing different types of healing plants, although how the conversation got started has yet to be known. The other girls, with the exception of Rouge, are talking about one of their absolute favorite subjects-boys.

"I ain't joining that." Kyoshi grumbles unhappily, crossing her arms over her chest. "I think I'll just sit over in the corner by Rouge and look absolutely bored for the rest of the evening."  _'While I'm really plotting ways to disrupt this so I can get out of it. Maybe I can get the boys to help…'_

Kitsume rolls her eyes. "Can you please behave for just one evening? We just want to have a talk without the boys around."

"I'd rather talk with the boys…" Kyoshi grumbles, before crossing the room and plopping herself down beside Rouge. "A lot better than being in here." She says. "In fact, holding a conversation with Kokoro would be more worth my time."

"Punk, you're nuts." Sam comments blandly.

"And don't you forget it, Pyro!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

_With the boys._

"I'm bored." Ganko loudly complains.

Daisetsu absent-mindedly catches the red bouncy ball he's been tossing at the ceiling. "And we care, why exactly?"

"Because when I get bored, I tend to get reckless. And when I'm reckless, I tend to get into a lot of trouble. And when I get in trouble, I tend to somehow involve everyone around me so that we all get in trouble."

Daisetsu rolls his eyes. "Yeah, but that's also because you're an insane, nutty trickster, which is why one of your many nicknames is 'Fox'."

Ganko grins and tosses the ball up at the ceiling again. "Yes, I am aware of that Spirit-boy, but what are you gonna do to keep me from getting too bored?"

"As if you're not already?" Daisetsu counters. "And will you stop throwing that thing, it gets on my nerves about as much as Botan's voice does."

The rest of the boys- Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara Bobby, Sam, and Scott- listen to the conversation in half interest.

"I'm not at the peak of my boredness yet, Dai. And no, I won't stop throwing it."

"Not at the peak of your boredness?" Daisetsu raises an eyebrow. "Ganko, you're frickin' throwing a red bouncy ball at the ceiling. If that doesn't count as being at the peak of your boredness, then I don't know what does. And I said stop throwing that thing!"

"So what if I'm throwing a red bouncy ball at the ceiling? What do you care? It's keeping me from going insane, after all. And I don't wanna stop throwing it!" He sticks his tongue out at the blue-haired boy.

"I know it's keeping your boredness at bay, you idiotic fox! And I care because it's driving me nuts! Up the wall! Insane! Need I continue?"

"I dunno Dai. According to my sister and the Pyro I'm too incompetent to handle any intelligent conversation." Ganko fake gasps. "But wait, this isn't intelligent at all! No, you don't have to continue, baka!" He tosses the ball up into the air again.

"You know wha-"

"You two fight worse than a married couple, did you know that?" Yusuke comments. "And as amusing as it is, can you find something else to fight over that doesn't involve that red bouncy ball? Hey, isn't that Kuwabara's anyway?"

"It is not, Urameshi! It's Ekichi's!" Kuwabara retorts.

"And therefore it's yours!"

"It is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

Ganko and Daisetsu snicker at the two younger teens.

"And they say we act like an old married couple." Ganko comments.

Daisetsu grins. "One question, Ganko. Which one's the husband and which one's the wife?"

All of the boys, except Kuwabara and Yusuke, who are still arguing, and Hiei, crack up when they attempt to imagine this particular scenario.

"B-both are t-t-to weird t-to ima-gine!" Ganko stutters, trying to get his laughter under control.

Hiei rolls his eyes at the immature boys and quietly slips out the open window he was sitting by. As usual, Kurama is the only one to notice this. Or is he?

"Hey, where'd Hiei go?" Ganko asks, looking at the spot Hiei last was. "He was here a second ago."

"Probably went out the window, like usual." Yusuke mutters. "C'mon, lets find something to do."

Bobby looks up hopefully. "The girls are having some sort of pajama party in Yukina's room."

Ganko and Yusuke's eyes both light up as they think of an idea. "I've got an idea!" They say at the same time and then glare at each other. This, of course, leads to them telling their ideas and then fighting over whose is better, which in turn leads to Kurama and Scott trying to get them to calm down and not fight.

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_Back with the girls._

Kyoshi growls and her left eye twitches as Jubilee, Kitsume, Kitty, and Botan sit around her 'styling' her hair. She yelps as Kitty accidentally pulls on a tangle.

"That's it!" She yells, running over to Sam. "Help me, Sam!"

Sam rolls her eyes and shoves her demoness friend away from her. "Help yourself, Punk."

Kyoshi rubs her lower back where she landed. "Jeez Pyro, what crawled up your ass and died?"

Sam glares at her. Apparently oblivious, Kyoshi continues.

"Stupid, pyschotic, evil, demonic, pyro dog."

Sam's glare intensifies and the fire dog contemplates lighting Kyoshi on fire. She resists the temptation, knowing it will only get her in further trouble.

Kyoshi's grumbling continues.

On second thought, how much trouble could she possibly get in? It may very well be worth the trouble.

For the second time that night, Kyoshi finds herself yelping. This time because her favorite pajama's have caught on fire.

"SAMANTHA KAI INUKOTSU! YOU IDIOTIC BITCH OF A PYROKINETIC!"

Kyoshi's yell can indeed be heard throughout the entire school for the gifted.

In her own room, Genkai sighs and adds 10 laps to Kyoshi's half of the training chart.

Back with the girls, Kyoshi has managed to put out the flames, with no help from Sam, and is now sulking while sitting on the window sill. Unfortunately for her, there's a screen in this particular window, so she can't escape through this one like Hiei can.

Sam is sitting across the room from Kyoshi (Kitsume's orders) with her arms crossed over her chest. This leaves her symbol in plain view, making it open for discussion among the girls.

"Hey Sam, is that, like, a tattoo?" Kitty asks, pointing to the crossed flaming swords on the pyro dog's right arm.

"What does it look like." Sam replies emotionlessly.

All of the girls, minus the Tantei, gather around Sam to get a good look.

"Did it hurt?" Amara asks.

Sam glares at all of them. "Yes."

Kyoshi snickers in her corner, enjoying watching the girls interrogate Sam. Kitsume sighs and shakes her head while Botan, Hikari, and Yukina all giggle.

"When'd you get it?" Tabitha asks.

"Long time ago."

"Why swords?" Rahne asks.

"It's my symbol."

"That doesn't explain much." Jean says.

Sam growls deep in her throat. "It explains plenty. Back off."

Sensing that Sam's about ready to lose her temper, Kitsume interrupts their interrogation. "Hey guys, how about we play a game or something?"

"Yeah guys," Kyoshi chimes in. "We don't need to get Sam all mad already. Let's save it for another night."

Sam narrows her eyes at the black and blue haired girl. Then she flicks something at the girls head.

"Ow! Sam!" Kyoshi rubs her head and picks up the red marble. "Oi, Sam-baka! Warawa gozen iyake yu- hikki Kaname-onii-san!" (Roughly translates to: I am tired of you copying my brother Kaname!)

"I could care less." Comes Sam's reply.

"Wata-"

-SLAM!-

"Get 'em!" Ganko yells.

All of the girls scream as the boys run into the room, each of them apparently randomly scooping up a girl. 5 minutes later the only two left in the room are Sam and Rouge. Sam yawns and stares emotionlessly at the ceiling while Rouge looks around the room in surprise.

"Well that was weird." Rouge comments.


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter 11: Getting to Know You Better_

"I'm going to kill you!" Kyoshi yells, beating on her kidnappers back. "Let me the hell go, whoever you are! I'm warning you!"

"Will you shut up!" A familiar voice hisses. "Jeez, me and the guys try to have some fun and I nearly get beat up because of it!"

Kyoshi blinks in surprise. "Yusuke?" She whispers, stopping her senseless beating. "Thank you for saving me from that hell hole!" She cries, turning in his grip so she can fiercely hug him.

Yusuke blushes. "Hey Kyoshi, can you let go?"

Kyoshi blushes as well. "Sorry." She looks around at wherever it is they're at. "Hey Yusuke, where are we?"

"Dunno." Yusuke replies. "We only planned up to who grabs who and that we quickly run out of the room and in any direction."

"Ah." Kyoshi replies, sweat dropping at the boy's logic. "You can put me down, now."

"Sorry." Yusuke says, setting her down. "Got a little caught up in getting away, I guess."

Kyoshi shrugs. "I've gotten worse from Ganko. At least you have a reason, seeing as how my baka kitsune friend tends to randomly sling me over his shoulder and run like a madman down the street."

Yusuke chuckles at the mental image. "That sounds just like something he'd do."

Kyoshi laughs and nods. "Yeah, that's our Ganko!"

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With Kitsume and her kidnapper…

Kitsume sighs and squirms in her captors grip. "Alright, you can put me down now, Kurama."

Kurama smiles. "So you did know it was me. I'm surprised you figured it out amid the confusion." He gently sets her down.

"Well, you boys certainly made Kyoshi a happy camper. She was practically begging to get out of that room. She even resorting to picking fights with Samantha." Kitsume sighs and runs a hand through her green-tipped black hair. "So, what made you go along with the rest of the boys obviously idiotic plan?"

"Curiosity."

The female kitsune raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Kurama sighs. "Yusuke and Kuwabara have blackmail against me. And Hiei as well, but he wasn't there."

Kitsume sweat drops. "Those boys… Well, at least I got you and not my brother or Kazuma."

"I know Yusuke got Kyoshi, Ganko got Yukina (1), Scott got Jean, Kuwabara got Hikari, and Kurt got Kitty, but I'm not sure about everyone else." Kurama says, remembering seeing a few of the pairs.

"Sou…"

"Shall I escort you to your room or back to Yukina's?" Kurama asks politely.

Kitsume thinks for a moment before deciding. "Mine. We'll probably need plenty of sleep in case Genkai decides to bombard us with training or something."

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Sure enough, the next day at breakfast Genkai tells her group that they have training a hour after breakfast. Ganko, Daisetsu, and Kyoshi dissolve into whispers soon after this, and 15 minutes into breakfast they all get up and leave, still whispering to one another. Kitsume, Hikari, and Samantha ignore the three and continue either talking to the mutants, quietly eating, or holding a glaring contest with Hiei. (Sam loses that contest when Hikari decides to continuously poke her in the side to get her full attention.)

Soon, it comes time for the two teams to mysteriously "disappear" one by one as they sneak back to the forest. Kyoshi, Daisetsu, and Ganko are the last three to arrive in the clearing, wearing their training outfits.

Ganko's wearing his light blue haori and dark blue hakama, Daisetsu is wearing his new dark purplish-blue training gi, and Kyoshi's wearing the dark blue cloak (which is obviously covering her taijiya uniform).

Genkai looks around at the assembled teams, annoyed to see them in their separate, original groups. "Obviously, you all haven't been spending enough time around one another. The whole point of you all getting to know one another is so that you can fight well with one another. Kyoshi, take off the cloak and pair up with Yusuke. Sam, you're with Hiei- don't give me that look. Kitsume, you're with Kurama. Ganko, you're with Daisetsu. Kuwabara, you go with Hikari for this one. Botan and Yukina, you can either spar or help me monitor." She instructs.

Kyoshi grumbles something under her breath about crazy old hags before shrugging out of her navy blue cloak revealing her skin tight taijiya suit.

Ganko grins and whistles at the sight of the silver skin-tight material and strong dark cerulean blue and navy colored armor. Kyoshi glares at her fox-demon friend and flips up her middle finger when Genkai's not looking. Ganko merely smirks back and gives her a thumbs up. Kyoshi rolls her eyes, shakes her head in exasperation, and walks over to drag Yusuke over to one side of the clearing.

Daisetsu whacks Ganko over the head to knock his friend out of his daydream, then the two go off toward the middle of the clearing to warm up.

Soon the entire group has split off into their pairs and are fighting. Daisetsu and Ganko's sparring has turned into something that looks like dancing, which Kyoshi explains is their 'dance-step fighting'. (And then she promptly gets yelled at by Genkai to get back to work)

Kitsume and Kurama are gracefully fighting in one area, Sam and Hiei are fiercely battling it out throughout the entire clearing. More than once one of the others would have to duck a fireball or Sam's newest trick- her fire whip.

Over in one corner Hikari is trying her best to get Kuwabara to fight her, stating that not only is she the best healing in the group, but also that she's a demon and therefore tougher than normal humans. In another corner Botan and Yukina are carefully sparring.

Kyoshi and Yusuke are going almost full-out, complete with reiki-blasts, numerous flips, perverted comments, rude remarks, and the two's favorite- street fighting techniques.

"You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!" Kyoshi growls, ducking from a particularly wild swing from Yusuke. "C'mon! We're that fightin' spirit I know you have!" She yelps when his fist comes in contact with her shoulder at the same time he swings his leg into the back of her knee. Her cerulean eyes flash dark lilac for a moment before she does a black flip and sends a crackling ball of purple-tinted blue energy.

"Will. You. Hold. Still?" Yusuke yells, dodging the ball of energy and trying to get another hit in at the same time. "You're like a jumping bean!"

"The whole point is to NOT get hit!" Kyoshi yells, jump rolling out of the way of one of Yusuke's energy balls.

"No, the whole point is to hit your opponent!" Yusuke yells back, still trying to hit his partner.

"Oh," Kyoshi raises an eyebrow as she grabs his wrist to keep him from hitting her. "you mean like this?"

Before Yusuke realizes what's going on, Kyoshi has him pinned to the ground with her elbow digging in between his shoulder blades, all within seconds.

"Oh,  _hell_."

"Language, Yusuke." Kyoshi cheerfully reminds, switching her position to sit on his back while slipping a kunai from her sash. "Oh, and I wouldn't move if I were you. Not with a kunai pointed straight in between your shoulder blades."

"Cheater." Yusuke grumbles.

Kyoshi smirks. "A slayer's gotta do what a slayer's gotta do. Using tools is part of the training."

"Great… now I'll never know what to expect from you."

"Precisely! Well, actually, you just have to expect the unexpected!"

"Is that even possible?"

"Dunno. That's a quote that Ganko picked up and I picked it up from him."

"SLACKERS GET BACK TO WORK!" Genkai yells from across the clearing. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU PINNED HIM DOWN, KYOSHI! GET BACK TO WORK!"

Kyoshi groans. "Crazy old hag…" She rolls off of Yusuke and slips the kunai back into her sash. "C'mon, detective. You'd better get up before Genkai personally comes over here to yell at us instead of yelling at us from across the field."

Yusuke smirks. "You mean there's a difference?"

"Yup. Over there she's not as loud. If she comes over here she's much louder. Duck."

Yusuke ducks in time to avoid Sam's fire whip. When he looks back up Sam and Hiei are nowhere to be seen, which most likely means they're in the forest.

"Shall we get started?" Kyoshi asks, fingering the silvery-blue and lilac colored hilt of one of her swords. She glances to the middle of the clearing where Ganko has managed to freeze Daisetsu's feet to the ground. "Hey Daisetsu! I need to borrow your sword!"

Daisetsu futilely tries to get his feet free, sending Ganko an exasperated look before turning his gaze to Kyoshi. "You've already got two swords, Kyo! Let me keep mine!"

"I need something for Yusuke, and you know I use twin blades! Besides, you also have two of them!"

The two argue for less than a minute before Genkai turns to yell at them. Grumbling, Daisetsu tosses Kyoshi his older katana who in return tosses it to Yusuke.

"Alright Urameshi," Kyoshi says, a smirk on her face. "I'm going to teach you how to really use a sword!"

"I don't know how to use one anyway, Shirotama." Yusuke replies, easily catching the katana.

"Gee, guess I have my work cut out for me then, ne? Lets get started…"

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"Hold still for one second you stubborn ass!" Sam can be heard yelling.

"Dammit! Will you get off me! I'll be fine!" Hiei yells back.

"Hiei, you can barely lift your damn arm, now hold still!"

Sam and Hiei are sitting in a charred clearing, both of them showing signs of battle. Sam's left side of her face, her left arm, and some of her leg has first-degree burns. The left hair band has snapped and parts of her hair are singed, some up past her ears. Hiei's right arm is almost completely charred.

More accurately, Sam is sitting on Hiei's chest in an attempt to get his arm loosely wrapped and put into a makeshift sling.

"Look Jaganshi," Sam growls. "I know a lot more about healing than you do now and ever will- living with a half phoenix demon has taught me a lot about healing. Now sit still before I fucking make you sit still."

"Bitch." Hiei replies.

Sam gives him a hard look. "Do you have any idea how many time's I've heard that? I'm aware that I'm a dog demoness, alright."

"Being around half-humans has screwed up your mind."

"Obviously being around humans has taught  _you_ nothing."

"Shut up."

"Bite me."

Hiei resumes glaring at her as Sam manages to loosely wrap up his arm.

"You owe me a cloak." Sam grumbles, tearing off a large piece for the makeshift sling. "And if you give Hikari any trouble when she tries to heal you, you will be sorry."

"Hn."

Sam rolls her eyes and quickly ties the sling. "There. Now you will go back to the clearing and have Hikari take a look at your arm. Or you could at least have your sister do it."

Hiei glares at her, his eyes slightly wider than usual.

"I'm a dog demon, Hiei." Sam reminds him. "My sense of smell is much better than ordinary demons. And also, I've been trained in aura reading." She frowns. "I won't tell anyone, I have more honor than that."

Sam falls backwards when Hiei quickly moves and runs out of the clearing. A surprised look shows on the pyro dogs face before she quickly shifts it back to her usual indifferent mask. Standing up, she undoes the right hairpiece, letting her right ponytail loose. Frowning at her now uneven, half burnt hair, Sam straightens her navy blue tank top, makes sure her shorts aren't burned off, and walks in the direction she feels Kyoshi's familiar energy.


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter 12: Fast Forward_

Months pass without any sign of the demon Koenma sent them to look for. Of course, this doesn't mean the months passed without any trouble. Kyoshi, Ganko, and Yusuke have already gotten community service for fighting at school- numerous times.

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Kyoshi looks around the park. "Well, isn't this fun." She sarcastically remarks.

Yusuke glares at the black and blue-haired girl. "This is all your fault, Shirotama."

Ganko glares at Yusuke, protective instincts kicking in. "Do us all a favor, Urameshi; urusai. This is your fault."

"How is it my fault we have community service! This is all her fault!" Yusuke yells, pointing at Kyoshi, who rolls her eyes and remarks, "Oh sure, blame the only girl."

"Kyoshi didn't do anything, Urameshi! So shut up!" Ganko growls.

"Make me!" Yusuke replies.

"I sure as hell will make both of you shut up if you don't just  **shut up**!" Kyoshi yells, glaring at the two boys.

There's silence for a minute.

"Hey Kyo, that sounded weird." Ganko remarks.

Kyoshi glares at Ganko. "Urusai."

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Hikari has only gotten angry once since the whole fiasco in Koenma's office. She basically sulked the entire day and snapped at everyone who had tried to talk to her, which really freaked out all the mutants.

After her first major fight with Hiei, Sam cut her hair due to half of it being burnt. So for a few weeks her hair was cut up to her ears. By now her hair has grown back out to her shoulders and she can once again pull it up into ponytails.

Not much has happened with the others. Unless you count the normal, numerous bets, odd fights, role-playing games by Team Illusion, and general craziness that the two teams go through. And then comes what is know known as 'the kitchen incident'.

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"What do you mean we have to cook something!" Kyoshi exclaims. "I don't cook! I burn everything!"

"Whatever you cook, its bound to be better than Kitty's cooking." Bobby remarks.

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Kitty exclaims. "You're worse! None of the stuff you make gets fully cooked! Remember the French fries? They were still cold!"

"Forget I said anything!" Kyoshi yells over the two's argument. "C'mon Yusuke, you're helping me!" She says, before dragging a protesting Yusuke to the kitchen.

"Sooo…" Daisetsu comments. "How much you wanna bet they blow up the kitchen?"

Samantha snorts. "They're not stupid, Spirit-Boy."

"Well if you're so smart, what do you think's going ta happen?" Daisetsu asks, ignoring the two bickering mutants behind him.

"They're going to make something explode, but they're not going to destroy the kitchen completely." Samantha states unhesitantly.

"Alright, I think they're going to cook something completely inedible." Daisetsu says. "What about you, Ganko?"

Ganko blinks. "Hmm? What?"

Daisetsu sweat drops. "What do you think they're gonna do?"

Ganko smiles mysteriously. "I think that something might get burnt, but that overall it'll taste good."

Daisetsu raises an eyebrow. "Well, whatever. It's your money."

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Less than ten minutes later…

-BAM!-

"DAMN IT ALL!" Kyoshi yells.

"Point." Samantha says.

Ganko and Daisetsu both curse.

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More than ten minutes later…

"Ta-da!" Kyoshi happily exclaims, showing off the food she and Yusuke cooked. Sure, her hair is completely messed up, she's covered in flour, and her sleeves have several burn marks, but she's still grinning.

Poor Yusuke has a more disgruntled look. His hair's completely de-gelled and he's covered in burn marks, flour, and bits of something, so can you really blame the guy?

Ganko grins and plucks a chicken wing off a plate and bites into it. "Mmmm… you used that awesome sauce, didn't ya, koneko?"

Kyoshi laughs and gives Ganko a victory sign. "You betcha, fox-boy!"

Ganko smirks at Daisetsu, and Samantha turns to the spirit guide as well. "C'mon spirit-boy! Pay up!"

Daisetsu grumbles something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like 'I hate you all', but none-the-less hands over the money.

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Then came the Christmas fiasco. All of the Japanese students had trouble finding good presents for everyone. Especially since most of the time Team Illusion gets each other unique Makaian weapons and Team Urameshi never gets presents for one another. Then Ganko rushed around trying to find the right ingredients to make the Christmas cake he makes every year, only to get back to the institute, realize he'll have to make more than one, and then rush back out to the grocery store to hunt down more ingredients.

Then came New Years (Shogatsu). An even bigger event than Christmas. Kitsume, Hikari, Yukina, and Botan went on an extreme cleaning spree and made the others decorate the house with bamboo and pine ornaments and plum trees. Then Kyoshi and Ganko got stuck with making and serving toshikoshi soba (buckwheat noodles) on New Years eve. All the mutants were surprised when on January first, none of the Japanese students argued at all, and even Genkai didn't criticize everyone like she usually does.

And then came Setsubun (Beginning of spring) in which Yusuke, Kuwabara, Ganko, and Daisetsu had fun pelting everyone with roasted beans shouting, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" ("Devils out, happiness in") and afterwards they decided to decorate all the entrances to the institute, and numerous rooms inside, with fish heads and holly tree leaves. Nobody was happy with the smell and Sam basically burnt off all the ones she saw, although burning them left the smell hanging around for days.

Valentines day was relatively peaceful. Even if Yusuke did argue with Kyoshi about giving him chocolate. Of course, later that night he ate them all. A month later on White Day, Yusuke repayed Kyoshi by making her cookies, which she accepted without argument. Ganko surprised everyone by making an unmeltable figurine of some kind for each of the girls. For Kyoshi it was a cat; for Kitsume it was a fox; for Hikari it's a bat; for Yukina a bird; for Botan a highly ornate flower; for Sam a dog; and for Genkai a wolf. He even made figures for the mutant girls.

Nothing interesting happens for any of the other holidays. And then summer comes, signaling that nearly a year has passed since the two teams first arrived. This fact added with the fact they've seen nothing of the demon Koenma sent them to kill, is not a good thing, especially when many people on the teams have a short temper… Now that summer has come though, they can put forward most of their energy into finding the demon.


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter 13: Finally!_

It's the second week in June and today Kitsume, Hikari, and Hiei are stationed at the park, Kyoshi, Kuwabara, and Kurama are stationed at the mall, Yusuke, Ganko, and Botan are stationed around town, and the others- Daisetsu, Yukina, Samantha, and Genkai are at the institute covering for everyone out searching for Denkou or any strange-acting demons.

**The mall.**

"I'm bored." Kyoshi and Kuwabara whine at the same time. They then exchange amused glances and crack up laughing.

Kurama sighs in exasperation. "Please you two, we're suppose to be on lookout."

"Okay, okay." Kyoshi says, trying to make a straight face.

She fails horribly and cracks up just seconds later. Kuwabara joins her seconds later and Kurama just sighs. _'It's going to be a long day…'_

**Around town somewhere**.

"Squirrel!" Ganko suddenly yells, running off to try to catch the squirrel running up the tree. "Come down squirrel! Please come down! I want to play with yooooooouuuu!"

Yusuke and Botan stare at the half-fox demon blankly, both wondering what the hell Ganko is on. Five minutes later the two have managed to calm down the hyperactive fox by smacking him repetitively over the head.

Now Ganko has a headache. And if you think he's going to let them forget about it, you're out of your mind.

"My head hurts…"

**The park.**

Kitsume sighs and leans up against a tree.  _'I hope Kyoshi and Ganko are alright… I know whenever they get restless they tend to get extremely hyper… maybe it's a good thing I'm not partnered with either of them.'_  She sighs and looks up. "See anything, Hikari?"

Hikari shakes her head 'no'. "Gomen ne, Kitsume-nee-chan. I don't see anything. Have you seen Hiei at all?"

"Not since we got here." Kitsume replies, frowning. "Where did he go?"

Hikari shrugs as she looks up into the trees. "It's such a peaceful day…"

"Something's got to happen." Kitsume finishes. "I hope we're wrong for once."

**The Institute.**

Daisetsu boredly stares outside a window, absent-mindedly blowing spit bubbles. Genkai and Samantha are stubbornly ignoring him while Yukina is off helping Bobby with something.

"Spirit-boy, knock it off." Samantha growls.

"But I'm bored." Daisetsu whines.

"Then go find something else to do." Samantha says.

Daisetsu boredly looks around the room and his gaze lands on Samantha's hair.  _'Hmm…?'_

Samantha wearily watches Daisetsu as the blue-haired boy scoots steadily closer to her. "What are you doing, Daisetsu?"

Daisetsu pauses a foot away from her. "Umm… I don't remember."

Samantha glares at Daisetsu before standing up and walking off.  _'I can't take much more of this…'_

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Later that evening, both team Illusion and team Urameshi are relaxing in the living room with some of the mutants. Bobby and Ray are playing video games while Jamie and Amara watch.

Hikari suddenly jerks her head up, eyes wide. "Youki… Guys! I sense youki!"

"What?" Kitsume exclaims, while Kyoshi's arm slips out from under her and she bangs her head on the table and curses rather loudly.

With the force of a bullet, several demons crash through the windows around the room, making nearly all of the occupants yell out.

Within seconds, Kurama has his rose whip out, Hiei has a hand on his katana, Kitsume has her fox-fire sai ready, Ganko has materialized his ice staff, Hikari, Botan, and Yukina are standing back to back in a defensive position, Sam has fire dancing around her fists, and Yusuke, Kyoshi, Daisetsu, and Kuwabara are standing defensively around the mutants.

A puke green skinned demon smirks at the group. "Sssso thissss isss the infamousssss Reikai team. Not very impressssssssive."

Yusuke, Ganko, and Kyoshi all flip off the demons in unison.

The demon snarls. "GET THEM!"

The two teams launch into action, startling the mutants that are in the room and coming into the room. Kyoshi, Daisetsu, Yusuke, and Kuwabara soon have to use their own powers due to the overwhelming number of low-level demons infiltrating the room.

Kyoshi's eyes glow dark lilac and her hair floats in a nonexistent breeze as she calls upon one of her favorite tricks- energy orbs. Larger-than-the-size-of-marbles small lilac colored orbs float around her. Kyoshi easily directs the path of each of the individual orbs, each one of them shooting through a demon and turning it to dust. (A lovely effect of this type of her energy, as there is no mess to clean up)

Kuwabara summons up his usual Rei Ken and chops his way through the demons with ease. Daisetsu follows suit with his "spirit oar". Yusuke lets out one shotgun blast just so he can go back to his method of punch-the-crap-out-of-the-stupid-low-level-demons-just-to-make-it-even-slightly-challenging.

The two teams succeed in keeping the demons from hurting the mutants and soon there's only one left, which Yusuke grabs by it's shirt and slams it up against the wall, his fists glowing with barely contained blue energy.

"Who sent you?" The human-turned-demon boy growls, brown eyes narrowed in anger.

The demon coughs, a wicked smirk still evident on his face. "Master Denkou sent us. And he has a message for you pathetic demon slayers."

Nearly all the demons on the two teams growl at this statement.

"He says the final battle will be tomorrow evening, starting at five. If you're late, then he'll go on with his plans." The demons smirks. "And he always says you'll all die. So tomorrow, 5 o'clock, five miles through the forest going northward."

Fed up with the demon, Kyoshi shoots her last orb at it and it turns to dust. Yusuke scowls and dusts off his hands.

"Shit."

Yeah, that about sums it all up.


	14. Chapter 14

_Chapter 14: Final Battle and Aftermath_

Genkai gives Yusuke, Kyoshi, Kuwabara, and Daisetsu a hard look. "What was it I told you not to do? Oh yes, I told you to  ** _not_** use your powers."

Kyoshi and Yusuke wince.

"Sorry grandma." Kyoshi mumbles.

"But we had to, Genkai!" Daisetsu protests. "There were demons everywhere! What the hell were we suppose to do? Just let them kill everyone?"

"And you couldn't have just used hand-to-hand combat?" Genkai questions. "Not all fighting against demons has to use your powers, Daisetsu."

The blue-haired male deity winces. "Oops."

"So who's going to explain this mess to the mutants?" Kitsume asks logically, her tail curled around her. "They are going to have questions about this whole thing, especially since they now know that we're not ordinary people."

Yusuke snorts. "Yeah, no shit."

"So who's going to answer them?" Botan asks.

"Not me!" Yusuke, Kyoshi, Ganko, and Daisetsu shout at the same time.

Genkai rolls her eyes. "Honestly. We know better than to make you idiots explain everything. You'd wind up getting everything all screwed up and you'd either scare them all to death or get them wanting to kill us all." She turns to Kitsume and Kurama. "I think it would be best if you two explained everything to them. You two are the most logical and can explain everything a little better than I can."

Kitsume sighs and mutters, "Wonderful." in a sarcastic tone while Kurama just nods.

"Now that that's settled," Genkai says, turning to the rest of the group. "You all go on to bed. You'll need your strength tomorrow. We won't be doing any heavy training, but we will be doing light training. Now, go."

The others do so, albeit a bit reluctantly, wanting to stay and watch the mutant's reactions to what Kitsume and Kurama are going to tell them. Genkai eventually winds up dragging Kyoshi and Yusuke's butts to their rooms after she finds them lurking in the halls.

Back downstairs in the not-so-wrecked kitchen Kitsume and Kurama are having a rough time even beginning to explain what's going on, especially with the glares they are receiving.

Kitsume takes a deep breath after failing for the fifth time to even put together a coherent sentence. "This is going to sound really, really bizarre…" She starts nervously, eying Logan who has started to growl. "But umm… most of us that came here are… well, demons. Kuwabara's the only human and Daisetsu and Botan are both Spirit Guides for Prince Koenma."

Blank and confused stares.

Kurama sighs. "The reason that Kitsume, Hiei, Sam, Hikari, Yukina, Ganko, and I have powers similar to that of a mutants is because we are demons. Kitsume, Ganko, and Hikari all have some amount of human blood in them, but the rest of us do not. Yusuke and Kyoshi don't have element powers like ours. They control their spirit energy, demon energy, and Kyoshi has limited holy powers from when she was completely human. Kuwabara and Daisetsu both use spirit energy, but they use different braches of it. Kuwabara is what we call a psychic while Daisetsu is one of the few Spirit Guides of the Reikai- or Spirit World- that has mastered a more physical form of spirit energy. Botan is a guide of the River Styx and also a messenger between the team that I am on and Koenma, who is our boss."

Less blank and more confused stares this time.

Kurama and Kitsume both sigh.

"There's no truly easy way to put it, is there?" Kurama muses.

"Well, there's always this one." Kitsume mutters. "Alright, lets put it this way. None of us except Kuwabara are human and our boss is the ruler of the Spirit World. He sent us here to take care of another non-human life form that is planning on starting an uprising or some crap here in New York."

Kurama raises an eyebrow at her choice of words. "Been spending too much time around the other guys and Kyoshi?"

"Well it works." Kitsume replies, pleased that she's finally gotten a reaction out of the mutants. She can tell because there's no longer any confused looks and some of them have started whispering amongst themselves. "So… should we go into what kind of demons we are or just let them ask questions and see if it pops up?" Kitsume asks in a whisper.

"Let them ask questions." Kurama quietly responds. "We don't need to make them fear us since there is no need to."

Kitsume nods. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

"I knew you all smelled weird." Logan growls.

Kitsume and Kurama sweat drop.  _'Okay… that's kind of weird.'_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The fox-demon-turned-human and the half fox demon stay up well into the night trying to explain things to the mutants without raising panic and without confusing the hell out of all of them. They finally get to go to bed when Professor Xavier calls an end to the interrogation, saying he wants to speak with Genkai in the morning about all of this. Relieved, the two basically flee to the safety of their rooms. They'll never admit that they fled though.

Genkai allows all of them time to sleep in the next morning. Hiei and Sam even sleep in a little. Kyoshi, Yusuke, and Ganko all sleep in until about noon and Kitsume and Kurama surprisingly both sleep in later than the three. The order that they got up in goes something like this: Genkai (did you expect her to sleep in?), Yukina (she got up a little after her normal time), Hiei, Sam, Kuwabara (he swore he heard a cat meowing somewhere and wanted to rescue it. Or something like that. Kyoshi had smirked when she heard and had said something to Yusuke and Ganko about giving Kokoro a treat later), Botan, Daisetsu (he claimed Botan woke him up), Yusuke, Ganko, and Kyoshi (those three woke up around the same time), and last was Kurama and Kitsume.

After a rather tense lunch with the mutants, Genkai gathers up the large group that she has dubbed "her idiots" (or something like that) and takes them out to their clearing to do some light training to make sure they're prepared. They barely get back in time to sit down for another more stressful meal, as the dinner lasts longer than the lunch did.

Kyoshi comes close to snapping halfway through the dinner, but a dark look from Sam prevents her from doing so.

After dinner the demons and single human psychic go up to their rooms to get dressed in something they can easily fight in. They regroup in the currently-being-renovated living room about a half hour later.

Kyoshi's wearing her youkai taijiya outfit with the cloak Ganko and Daisetsu got for her overtop it. Ganko's wearing a silver haori and a pair of black hakama, both of which have pale blue ice-like designs. Daisetsu, Samantha, and Kurama are all wearing fighting outfits (think Kurama's first outfit in the Dart Tournament). Daisetsu's is dark purple-blue, Samantha's is pale blue with black and red flames. Kitsume's wearing a silver Chinese-ish fighting dress with green flames on it and a red obi. The skirt falls only to her knees and a slit goes up the side. Yusuke's wearing the blue karate-like outfit (a gi) that Ganko and Daisetsu got him. Kuwabara's wearing a white t-shirt and jeans.

Yukina, Hikari, and Botan are staying behind with Genkai so that they can help heal any wounds when the others get back. Yukina's wearing her light blue kimono, Botan's wearing her pink one, and Hikari's wearing her amethyst one with the dark purple sash.

"Well," Kyoshi says, slipping the ancient taijiya sword through the dark blue sash around her waist. "guess it's finally time to end this, ne?"

"Mew!"

Everyone looks down to see a small lilac colored cat with dark maroon markings and the symbol for 'Kokoro' on his forehead. Cerulean blue eyes peer up at Kyoshi.

"Kokoro!" Kyoshi exclaims, bending down and picking up the cat demon. "I'm so sorry I forgot about you my dear faithful companion!"

Kokoro purrs at the compliment.

"Guys, this is my guardian, Kokoro." Kyoshi says, petting the cat on the head. "Every female youkai taijiya has had a guardian demon of some type. I found Kokoro when I was fifteen and we've been partners ever since."

"As nice as the history lesson is," Yusuke says. "We're already running late, so lets go."

"Good luck, minna-san." Hikari says softly. "Come back safe."

Kitsume and Ganko smile at their younger half sister.

"We will, imouto." Ganko says. "We will."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Five miles into the forest they come across a barrier of some sort. They all pause before it to analyze it.

"Only one person can go through it." Kyoshi says. "This one's designed to keep all demons out though, so that means Kuwabara and Kurama are the only two who can go through." At Kurama's questioning look she sighs and says, "It's designed to keep out anyone with demon blood, not a demon soul."

"Kuwabara's the safest bet." Kitsume says, frowning. "Kami knows what it would do to one of us if we tried to go through."

Ganko experimentally pokes the barrier and yelps when it burns him. Everyone else sweat drops while Kyoshi sets to work healing the burn with her lighter holy powers.

"I don't like this." Sam says darkly, glaring at the barrier. "They're obviously working with the strategy divide and conquer."

"Well then they don't know us very well, now do they?" Kyoshi replies with a smirk. "Well Kuwabara, go on through. You're the only one who can get through and I doubt that that-" She points to a shimmering patch of air a few feet ahead. "will just disappear if we try to go through it. Kuwabara has no choice but to go through if we want to complete this mission."

The female Reikai Tantei gets a few incredulous looks.  _'Did she just say something_ smart _?'_

They finally talk Kuwabara into going through the barrier and are able to move on. The next barrier they come to is an Ice hanyou one, which is Ganko's. He goes through without a word and the others move on. Next is a forest and illusion barrier, and Kitsume goes through. After that is a double fire barrier and both Hiei and Samantha have to go through for the others to continue. The next one is a Spirit Barrier so Daisetsu goes on through, being a spirit guide. Then it's just Kyoshi, Yusuke, and Kurama for a while before they come across a nature barrier. Kurama takes this one, of course, and Kyoshi and Yusuke continue on to the final barrier and cross through it together. Waiting for them are two demons- Denkou and a female demon who looks like his twin.

Back with Kuwabara, he's having a little trouble fighting a rather lazy corrupted psychic named Kagami who's laying down on a branch using her rei-shuriken to attack Kuwabara.

Ganko's up against a water demon named Tsunada and is having some difficulty since the demon keeps melting his ice with the water. Of course, he's giving the demon some trouble by freezing water when he sends it at him.

Kitsume's fighting an illusion raccoon demon named Fujita, and is for once having trouble keeping her own illusions stable.

Hiei and Samantha are forced to work together against a shadow dog demon named Ishi, but haven't risen up to their full power yet, wanting to work off their frustrations.

Daisetsu has already defeated the "demon" he was chosen to go up against and is waiting for the barrier to let him out. Said barrier has shocked him several times when he's tried to go out. The "demon" he faced is now just a splat on a tree and is therefore, unidentifiable.

Kurama's up against a blue fox demon named Azarni, who has several strange plants on her side.

Back with Yusuke and Kyoshi, Yusuke is now fighting Denkou and Kyoshi is fighting Denkou's twin sister- Ikazuchi. Yusuke has changed to his demon form, but Kyoshi is struggling with something.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Ganko growls, his eyes burning fiercely as he glares at Tsunada. "You will pay!" He snarls, forming his traditional twirled ice staff.

"Oh, so the little half foxy has a backbone!" Tsunada taunts. "And here I figured you'd be a week little half demon like all the rest and not be able to defend its family and friends. Lucky me, I actually get a fight."

Ganko growls darkly, his eyes bleeding red in barely contained anger. "I may be looked down upon for what I am," He says. "but I can and will protect those around me." His eyes narrow and then needle shaped piece of ice slam into Tsunada from every direction, killing him. Or so it seems.

Ganko closes his eyes, getting her nerves back under control and then reopens his eyes, which are now the normal color of forest green and hints of blue. Then he starts walking toward the barrier, frowning when he notices it's still in place. "What the he-"

-WHAM-

Something slams into the side of Ganko with the force of a car. Stars flash before the half fox demon's eyes as he fights for consciousness. Then with a snarl Ganko strikes back, blinding slinging his ice daggers in the direction of the attack. He winces when he twists around to scan the clearing, one of his ribs having been broken in the attack from Tsunada.

"You know, as much fun as I'm having with you, I would have loved to have that sister of yours."

Ganko narrows his eyes and carefully turns around to face his opponent.

Tsunada smirks, knowing he's hit a nerve. "Or perhaps that  _youkai taijiya_ descendant that you like."

Something inside of Ganko snaps at this time, having two of the precious people to him being threatened. His eyes bleed to pure red and he lets his animalistic instincts take over and his full power flow through him. His claws lengthen, his fangs become sharper, and his other two tails appear when he does this. Then he rolls up one of his sleeves and breaks the ward to contain his power. He does the same with his other arm.

Tsunada smirks.  _'So I finally get to see the fox-ling's full power. This is the challenge I've been waiting for.'_ His smirk fades away when Ganko suddenly disappears _. 'Where'd he go! He couldn't have possibly-'_

-WHAM-

A furious Ganko lands at least 20 punches on the water demon, sending him flying into a tree where several ice daggers are already embedded. Tsunada groans when the ice pierces through his back and then stiffins when Ganko appears in front of him with his trademark twisted ice staff in his hands pointed straight at his chest. The fox demon is breathing heavily, the strain of using his full power getting to him already.

"Are you going to finish it?" Tsunada questions, knowing he's trapped and there's no way he can get out of it.

Ganko struggles for a moment with an internal debate and then looks Tsunada straight in the eye. "Death is too good for you, but you deserve to die after what you said. Nobody insults those I love and gets away with it. Especially not the likes of you."

"If I may say," Tsunada says as Ganko prepares to finish him off. "you fight admirably and honorably, I'm glad it was you I fought." He closes his eyes and Ganko takes this time to stab him through where his heart would be.

Ganko stands there and watches as Tsunada's body turns to dust and disappears. Then he falls to his knees as his eyes change back to their normal blue-green color and his features return to normal as nearly all his energy is spent. "Damn." He mutters, breathing heavily. "That took… far too much…" With that said, he collapses.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Over in her shielded area, Kitsume falters when she feels Ganko's energy decrease through the link they share.  _'Oh Inari, please be alright.'_ She prays quickly, before throwing one of her fox-fire encased sai at Fujita, who isn't paying very close attention. The sai pierces the raccoon demon through the shoulder, and she howls in pain. Kitsume's eyes narrow in determination.  _'Hold on, Ganko. I'm coming.'_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

With Kyoshi and Yusuke, Kyoshi is still having a hard time with something while Yusuke's having fun fighting Denkou.

' _Thank kami my sword isn't made of metal.'_  Kyoshi thinks as she attacks Ikazuchi with her sword. Her cloak has long since been abandoned and is laying in scraps on the other side of the clearing.

"Care to make some small talk?" Ikazuchi questions smoothly as she parries Kyoshi's sword with her own lightning sword.

"No thanks." Kyoshi replies, focusing all her attention on forcing the lightning demon back. "Small talk tends to distract one when fighting."

Ikazuchi laughs. "My, and here I thought you were the slow one."

"Nah, that's fox-boy and spirit-boy." Kyoshi quips, pulling back slightly to try another strike.

Ikazuchi easily blocks and pushes Kyoshi back. The black and blue haired girl does a back hand spring and easily lands in a crouches position, her blade flying past her into a tree.

"My, you loose your weapon so quickly." Ikazuchi purrs, running a finger along her blade. "You should take better ca-" Her eyes widen when her arm begins burning from something. She looks down and curses when she catches sight of the ward on her sword arm. "You little witch."

Kyoshi smirks and salutes. "I told you small talk tends to distract one when fighting."

Ikazuchi growls, all kindness lost. "Thunder bolt!" She yells, pointing her finger at Kyoshi.

The youkai taijiya descendant barely jumps out of the way in time as a bolt of lightning slams into the ground where she had landed before. She quickly breaths a sigh of relief and then flings several shuriken in Ikazuchi's direction.

The thunder/lightning demon curses loudly when they hit her and takes a moment to pulls them out. Her eyes burn golden as she fixes a glare on Kyoshi. "I shall enjoy ripping you apart piece by piece." A smirk adorns her face as a rather malicious thought crosses her mind. "And then perhaps I'll go after that 'brother' of yours and spare him the torment and pain of hearing of your death. Yes, that should work."

Kyoshi growls loudly, spirit energy swirling loudly around her.

"Aww, don't like that? Too-"

"SHUT UP!" Kyoshi roars, her eyes changing from their usual blue to pure burning lilac.  _'Nobody threatens him. NOBODY!'_ She throws one hand into the air, focusing all of her spirit energy into it. Yusuke and Denkou actually pause in their battle when they feel the rise of energy.

"Hiraikotsu, I summon thee! As you aided my great ancestor the  _youkai taijiya_ , come to my aid amidst this battle!" Kyoshi yells, her strong voice echoing throughout the forest.

Ikazuchi laughs when nothing happens and Yusuke casts a worried glance to Kyoshi before returning to his fight.

Kyoshi jumps out of the way of another bolt of lightning sent in her direction and is forced to keep dodging as Ikazuchi continuously sends them after her. She growls deep in her throat, her demon characteristics taking over more and more. First is her eyes, which are an even brighter shade of lilac now. Then her fangs become more noticeable and her ears grow slightly pointed. Her nails grow stronger and sharpen into more of a point and then a single lilac mark appears on her cheek, the same one that adorns Kokoro's forehead- Spirit. Finally the blue streaks in her hair change to lilac, completing her transformation.

Something can be heard easily slicing through the trees and cutting through the air and Kyoshi smirks and holds her hand up into the air again. She catches a large object as Ikazuchi hits her with a bolt of lightning.

Ikazuchi smirks, thinking she's finally defeated Kyoshi, but then is hit by the large object Kyoshi caught. The wind is knocked out of her and she goes flying backwards into a tree. Kyoshi steps in front of her, swinging the overly large boomerang around in the air with one hand. Ikazuchi pales at the sight and murmurs, "The Hiraikotsu. I thought it was just a legend."

"All legends are based on facts." Kyoshi replies.

Ikazuchi's eyes harden. "This merely means I will have to step up my level of fighting to it's full potential. You are a worthy opponent, Kyoshi Shirotama of the Lilac Wolves."

Kyoshi throws the boomerang at Ikazuchi, completely expecting the demon to evade it. "So you do know. Not many do."

Ikazuchi smirks, creating a ball of energy in her hand. "I have my sources, slayer." The energy balls disappears when Hiraikotsu slams into her back, knocking her over.

Kyoshi smirks and then jumps over the lightning demon to retrieve the weapon which has embedded itself in a tree. "I've had enough talking. Either fight me properly or surrender."

Ikazuchi quickly forms several small lightning balls and throws them at Kyoshi, showing she'd rather fight than surrender. Kyoshi blocks with the Hiraikotsu and then runs forward with it only to slam the weapon into the ground and use it to help pull off a flying kick.

' _Ha! Right in the nose!'_ She thinks triumphantly as she springs backward, a rather tricky maneuver to pull off with a large weapon in hand.

-CRASH-

Kyoshi barely manages to jump out of the way, but to do so she has to drop Hiraikotsu. "Oomph!" She utters when Ikazuchi slams her into a tree and pins her there.

Ikazuchi smirks, her draining sword pressed up against Kyoshi's neck. "It's a pity that this is the way the last if the lilac wolves will die."

Kyoshi struggles to get free but only winds up getting more of her energy drained to the point she can barely move. Her vision grows blurry so she can barely see Ikazuchi and she mentally curses herself for her weakness. Then her world fades to black and she submits to unconsciousness.

Ikazuchi smirks and raises her sword in preparation to kill Kyoshi.

"Oh no you don't!" Yusuke growls, sending a spirit gun blast at Ikazuchi's back, immediately killing her from the force. He then limps over to Kyoshi and kneels down beside her to check her pulse. He breaths a sigh of relief when he feels it and then is immediately forced to close his eyes when Kyoshi is enveloped in a bright lilac colored light. When the light disappears Yusuke looks down to see a black and lilac furred wolf cub bigger than a normal sized wolf where Kyoshi was laying.

"It would be easier if you were smaller." Yusuke grumbles before carefully picking up the female wolf demon. He then carries her out of the area, noticing the barrier is gone, and goes to find the others.

He meets up with Kurama first, who is just fine unless you count the slight limp he has. Next is Daisetsu who finally escaped from the barrier and had been running to try and find Kyoshi because he saw her boomerang go flying through the air. The blue haired boy curses loudly when Yusuke says he left the boomerang in the clearing and then he immediately runs off to go retrieve it. Eventually the entire group is reunited. Samantha and Hiei are forced to support one another because of the numerous wounds they've received, Ganko is basically dead on his feet and Kitsume isn't much better because of their link. Kuwabara is extremely annoyed and has several minor injuries. In other words, the two teams have won and haven't lost anyone.

Kyoshi's team is unsurprised when they see Kyoshi in her wolf form, having known about her lilac wolf blood. Kurama and Kuwabara show their surprise, Kurama only momentarily, and Hiei just gives a noncommittal 'hn' and focuses on keeping Sam upright and keeping himself from passing out.

They're all going to need quite a while to recover from this.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Yukina, Genkai, Botan, and Hikari are waiting for them outside when they finally return. Finally in a safe area, Ganko collapses into his younger sister's arms and Kitsume's eyes become unfocused from the strain. The four girls quickly help the fighters inside and get them in their rooms so they can take care of the wound's they've received.

The only thing they can do after that is wait for the wounds to heal on their own and wait for the fighters to regain their lost energy and strength.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Recovery and Photographs

A month has passed since the battle against Denkou and his cronies so it's now July. Everyone except Kyoshi and Ganko have healed from the battle. Ganko is still unconscious, and Kyoshi's wounds have yet to heal.

Kitsume sighs heavily as she stares at her brother's prone form. "Ganko… please, you've got to wake up. You're energy has completely recharged and all of your wounds have healed and there's no trace of any type of poison." She reaches forward and brushes her fingers through his tangled bangs. "Otouto, please wake up… we need you here."

Kitsume's head jerks up when she hears a dull thud outside her door and she looks up at Kyoshi, who is looking worse for wear.

The lilac wolf demon is still suffering from loss of energy and from the unhealed wounds caused by Ikazuchi's sword. She still has her lilac markings, her ears are still pointed, and a soft lilac colored fur covers her body. Also, her instincts and reactions have been going haywire, and it doesn't help that she can barely walk.

Kitsume stands up and faces her friend, a frown marring her face. "Kyoshi, you should still be in bed! What are you going up?"

Kyoshi growls deep in her throat. "I'm fine. Let me see Ganko."

Kitsume backs down, sensing the underlying dangerous tone. Wolf demons are dangerous when kept away from their pack, and despite how young she is, Kyoshi is like the Alpha- the leader- and her team is her pack.

Kyoshi walks unsteadily over to Ganko and climbs onto his bed as she transforms into her wolf form. She then lays her paws and head on his chest, licks his cheek as if to reassure herself that he's there, and then closes her eyes and drifts off into a light sleep.

Kitsume grimaces when she notices that several of Kyoshi's wounds have reopened and the blood is staining her lilac colored coat. She knows better than to approach her wolven friend and instead slowly backs away and then leaves the room. After carefully closing the door, she turns around and jumps when she finds Kurama standing there.

"How is he?" The crimson haired fox demon asks.

Kitsume sighs and looks away from his intense gaze. "No better, no worse." She replies. "Kyoshi's in there now, so we need to warn everyone not to go in there."

Kurama raises an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

Kitsume tears her gaze away from the floor to look up at Kurama. "Because Kyoshi is relying solely on her instincts. Ganko is her pack brother and is hurt, so her wolf side sees it as her duty to try and help him despite her own wounds. If her wolf side sees anything as something that could harm him, she will attack whether provoked or not." With a heavy sigh she pulls a kitsune designed ward from her sleeve. /Fox protection. Foxfire three/ Kitsume quickly slaps it on the door while the foxfire is still surrounding the ward.

"Kitsume-nee-chan, what are you doing?" Hikari asks as she walks down the hall with her large first aid kit. "I need to check up on Ganko-nii-chan before I go rebandage Kyo-chan's wounds."

Kitsume steps away from the door which allows Hikari to get a closer look at the ward she's placed on the door.

"Is that a protection ward?" The younger girl asks. "Surely you don't think someone will attack Ganko-nii-chan."

Kitsume shakes her head 'no'. "Of course not. It's just that Kyoshi's in there with him." At Hikari's confused look she elaborates. "Kyoshi's relying on instinct and is in her wolf form."  _'So I'm really more worried about_ her  _attacking someone.'_

Hikari's eyes widen in understanding. "Oh! Well, I'm going to go find Yukina-chan and Kazuma-kun. I was going to meet them after checking up on those two… will you tell me when Kyoshi-chan comes out?"

Kitsume nods. "Of course I will. You go have fun."

Hikari smiles. "I will nee-chan. Ja ne!"

Kitsume sighs heavily once her younger sister leaves and then turns to Kurama. "I need something to distract myself from all of this. Any ideas?"

"I'm sure we can think of a few things."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A few more days pass and Ganko and Kyoshi have yet to come out of the room. Kitsume and Daisetsu have had to take turns sending Kokoro in with food, knowing Kyoshi won't attack her companion when he's in his kitten form.

It's breakfast time at Xavier's school and things are much less tense now since the mutants have begun to somewhat tryst the two teams. So you could say everything is just about back to normal.

Hikari and Yukina are both singing softly to their audience which consists of Kitty, Rhaine, Amara, Kitsume, Kuwabara, and Botan. Daisetsu is boredly poking his eggs and is staring off into space. Kurama is having a quiet conversation with Samantha and Hiei. Yusuke is talking to Kurt and Bobby while shoveling food into his mouth.

"Geez, you'd think by watching them all that they don't miss us at all!" A loud voice says.

Everyone looks up to see Kyoshi and Ganko standing there. Kyoshi is still in her wolf form and has several bandages wrapped around her.

"Ganko!" Kitsume exclaims at the same time that Hikari yells, "Nii-chan!"

Ganko grins at his sisters and then looks down at Kyoshi. "Well, what do you know, they  _did_ miss us!"

Kyoshi barks, making several of the mutants, plus Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Botan, jump in surprise.

Kitsume and Hikari both get up from the table and walk over to their brother and hug him. Samantha and Daisetsu both get up and walk over to Ganko as well, but they both smack him in the head instead of hugging him.

"You had us worried sick, you git!" Daisetsu says, his slight accent showing through for once. "You've been unconscious for over a month!"

Ganko ducks down and hugs Kyoshi around the neck. "I know. Kyo-chan told me!"

Kyoshi lets out a small bark and then licks Ganko's cheek, making everyone laugh.

And so the process of healing begins, starting with a night out for the two teams. Kyoshi is able to go after Kokoro transfers some of his energy to her and she proves to Kitsume, Kurama, and Genkai that she won't collapse from blood or energy loss. So it's Yusuke, Kyoshi, Ganko, Daisetsu, Kurama, and Kitsume who go out for the night. Kurama and Kitsume are going just so they can keep an eye on the others. Of course, you never know what could happen, even with those two watching them.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Areia-chan wants us to come in and have our pictures taken again." Kitsume tells Kyoshi one morning.

A few days have passed since Ganko woke up and now things are completely back to normal. Well, as normal as things can get anyway.

Kyoshi yawns and tugs her black and blue hair free from the ponytail she's had it in all day. "Is that so? I know there's got to be more."

Kitsume gives a small sigh. "Actually, there is. She wants the Tantei to come with us. Somehow she's heard that we're working together and now she wants a picture of our two teams together."

Kyoshi sighs as well. "Great. The psychotic cat demon strikes again."

"She's not psychotic!" Ganko says, crawling out from under Kyoshi's bed. "She's just a little obsessive, is all. It has nothing to do with the digital camera that I sent to her and her brother for Christmas!"

Kitsume and Kyoshi give the male half fox demon a look, now knowing exactly how Areia found out.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Botan and Kuwabara look around in interest at the area of Makai that they're in. Tall trees surround them, blocking out the red sky but allowing sunlight to pass through the leafy branches. Green grass grows underfoot and a river winds its way alongside of the dirt path that they're traveling on.

"How much further is it?" Yusuke asks after they've been walking for about an hour. "And why did you open the portal up so far away?"

"We've got jus a little further to go." Kyoshi answers his first question. "And I opened it up so far away because of the wards surrounding this part of the forest. That and I'm still low on energy." She explains. "See that hill past the trees? Where we're going is right over it."

Yusuke groans when he hears this. "Great. A hill. This is like the old hag's training all over again."

Genkai smacks Yusuke in the head. "Shut up, dimwit. If you think this is bad then you've learned nothing during the time I've spent training you."

"Having fun?" Daisetsu asks, swooping down with Hikari on his oar.

Yusuke glares at the male spirit guide and says something rather rude to him that makes Hikari have to choke back laughter and has Daisetsu's face turning red.

Daisetsu grumbles something under his breath and then zooms off through the trees with Hikari shrieking in from excitement.

About ten minutes later they exit the forest. Just a few minutes later they're at the top of the hill and are looking down at a small straw-roofed house with sandy brown clay walls mixed with large stones.

"Home sweet home…" Ganko murmurs. "I've missed this place."

"It does have a homey feeling to it." Kyoshi comments, doing a few quick stretches to coax the feeling back into her arms and legs. "A least the pond isn't overrun by benu again."

Daisetsu shudders from high up in the air on his oar. "Yeah, that was a disaster." He says while Hikari giggles at the memory.

"I'm not sure I even want to know…" Yusuke grumbles, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"You don't. Trust me." Sam says, rolling her eyes. "It was a very stupid day for those three idiots."

Deciding to change the subject before Kyoshi replies to what Sam said, Kurama asks, "Are those griffins?"

Everyone's attention is turned to the small pride of winged creatures inhabiting a area between the pond and the woods.

Kitsume nods. "They are. They're not the only magical creatures around her though. There's also hippogriffs, baku, winged snakes, a few kappa, and the rest of the usual creatures. Areia swears she's seen a phoenix around here."

"Who is this 'Areia' you keep talking about anyway?" Yusuke asks.

"She's only the greatest photographer in the world!" Ganko exclaims happily. He grins when he sees a blonde haired girl step out of the house. "That's her!"

In a flash Ganko has changed into his fox form, his six tails waggling happily. The other sweat drop when he charges down the hill toward the female demon and then they follow him at a slower pace. When they reach the two, Ganko has transformed back into his human form and is teasing Areia about her wardrobe choice.

She's wearing a black and white shirt whose sleeves end at her elbows with a blue and purple tie-dyed vest, an emerald green skirt that ends just above her knees, patched brown boots, knee length pink and green striped socks, and dark red fingerless gloves. Also adorning her are numerous interesting necklaces, a metal band on her tail, silver hairsticks sticking out of her ponytail, and multiple earrings with different semi-precious gemstones on them in her pointed ears.

"Guys, this is Areia." Kyoshi introduces. "Areia, this is Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, Yukina, and Genkai. The boys are the Reikai Tantei."

Areia smiles happily and claps her hands. "Yay! New vic- I mean people to take pictures of!"

Once again everyone except Ganko sweat drops. The black fox just grins. "See? Isn't she the greatest?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

About an hour later they've met the other residents of the home- Areia's older brother Alex and her grandmother Asuka.

Alex looks like he could be Areia's twin and he shares the same odd choice in clothing, just without quite as much jewelry. For a better idea, he's wearing a purple shirt with a bright red cape, black pants with different colored circular patches, one black glove and one white glove, and dark green boots. His ears are pierced the same way that Areia's are and he has one necklace around his neck.

They're now outside in the area that Areia has designated as the photography area. The female cat demon is setting up her equipment, her golden cat tail with a small tuft at the end swaying back and forth in joy. Alex is arranging Team Illusion into what he feels is the best positions.

The Reikai Tantei, Yukina, and Genkai are standing off to the side watching how things work.

"I've got it!" Alex suddenly yells, slamming a fist into his open palm. "Alright. Dai, you get your oar out and you and Hikari get on it and hover in the background. Now, Kyoshi you're on the wall and Ganko's walking along it. Kitsume and Sam, want you two leaning against the wall chatting. Kyo, sit down." He directs, grinning once he sees the outcome. "Perfect! Cue wind!" With a snap of his fingers a breeze is directed toward Daisetsu and Hikari to make it look like they're flying past.

"Ooo…! Me like!" Areia happily exclaims, snapping a few pictures with the new digital camera. "Alright, now for the real deal!" Now she grabs her big camera and moves around to take several pictures. "Okay, everyone sitting on the wall now!"

After several different poses designed by the two eccentric cat demons it's the other group's turn. The appear a little alarmed when Alex begins cackling and puts Yukina and Hiei beside one another on the wall.

Nothing too bad happens until Areia decides she wants a picture of the two groups together along with single shots. Everyone makes a noise of exasperation but goes along with it, knowing nothing will deter the two. The double group shot goes without a hitch, and then it's time for single shots.

"So how are we going to do this?" Kyoshi asks wearily, remembering the last time Areia wanted to do single pictures.

Areia and Alex exchange amused glances and then Areia looks back at Kyoshi, her stormy blue eyes mischievous. "Alex and I are going to take almost random pictures of you guys during your three day vacation here."

"WHAT!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Kyoshi sighs heavily as she coaxes a few of the younger griffin cubs toward her using a fish she caught in the pond.

"Yo."

The trio of cubs approaching let out squeaky growls and then scamper off back toward the rest of the pride.

Kyoshi sighs heavily. "What do you want?" She asks, not even looking up when Yusuke sits down beside her and holds out his own fish.

"I just wanted to talk." Yusuke says. "But obviously you don't want to, so I'll just feed these little guys with you instead."

"They're griffins. Be careful what you say about them though. They're very prideful." Kyoshi tells him.  _'Or something like that. And why am I telling him this? I never did with Ganko or with Dai. In fact, I laughed my butt off when those two got chased by the entire pride. So why am I telling him?'_

_**(Well that's simple! You like him!)** _

' _Who the hell are you and why are you in my head?'_

_**(I'm you, silly! Well, more accurately I'm the voice of your demon side and I'm suppose to convince you that you like Yusuke because your demon side sees him as your mate and- Whoops! I've said far too much!)** _

Kyoshi twitches.  _'Go away you annoying little voice. I don't need your help in dating and he's not my mate.'_

_**(When you get the chance, change to your demon form and check your shoulder for any extra or changed markings. Then you'll see that he is your mate.)** _

' _GO AWAY!'_

_**(I'll be back.)** _

Kyoshi snaps back to reality in time to see several griffin cubs jumping on Yusuke in an attempt to get him to play with them. She has to bite back her laughter when one of them grabs his hair with it's beak and gently tugs on it.  _'Maybe it wouldn't be so bad…'_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Alex knocks on the door to his sisters room before walking in with a camera in his hands. "Hey, I got some pictures for you."

Areia looks up from her computer, glasses perched carelessly on the end of her nose. "That's great! Bring it here so I can upload them!"

Alex hands over the digital camera and then grabs a chair so he can sit beside his sister and see the computer. "How's your project coming?"

Areia sits back and lets the pictures load. "Pretty good. It'll be another two years before I can complete it. Then I'll move on to the next one." She clicks the 'ok' button on her computer and begins looking at the pictures.

"Interesting… Yusuke and Kyoshi, huh? These are some cute shots. I'm a little surprised the griffins get along so well with Yusuke. Hmm…" She eyes the next few shots of Hikari controlling the water in the pond to fly in graceful arcs around her. Areia clicks on the small video clip picture and watches as Hikari loses control and falls only to have Daisetsu catch her as he zooms by on his oar.

"You see the same matchmaking opportunities that I do?" Alex asks. "And those aren't the only ones. Keep looking."

The next couple of shots have Kitsume and Kurama in the woods talking about the different plants, Yukina and Kuwabara walking through Asuka's garden, Hiei and Sam arguing about something in the kitchen, Genkai meditating in the field, and Botan helping Asuka with something.

Areia's eyes stop on a picture of a forlorn Ganko, which is the last of the bunch. With a muttered excuse she rushes past her brother and goes off the look for the handsome half black fox.

Alex grins. "Ha! I knew she liked him! Grandma owes me 50 coins now!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Areia finds Ganko sitting on the wall they were taking pictures by earlier and jumps up to sit down beside him. "Hey, what's up?"

"The sky…"

"Oh?" Areia says, sneakily stretching and brushing her hand against Ganko's. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing, huh." Areia repeats. "So why are you sitting out here by yourself instead of having fun? This  _is_ your vacation."

Ganko sighs. "Nothing's wrong."

"So you're moping for no apparent reason at all?" Areia prods. "Say, this wouldn't have anything to do with Kyoshi handing out with Yusuke, would it?"

Ganko stiffins. "Why would it? The others are hanging out with the other team except for Hikari who's flying with Daisetsu again. Why should it matter that Koenma's other stupid team took away my family so I have no one to goof off with? Why…"

Areia panics, not having imagined Ganko getting this upset, and does the first thing to silence his rambling. She silences him with a soft kiss and then reaches up and tweaks one of his ears. "What are me? I'm not going anywhere."

Ganko looks at Areia in surprise and then his expression softens before he pulls her into a tight hug. "Thank you…"


	16. Chapter 16

_Chapter 16: Ending_

_I remember clearly the end of our mission. We were stuck in the U.S. for nearly another year because Koenma kept putting off our return. During that time there were a few demons we had to stop, but to this day we're still not sure if that's why he made us stay._

_Unfortunately I was unable to fight during about 5 of those months. I was able to keep training for one extra month until Yusuke and Ganko threatened to tie me down to a bed to keep me from hurting myself. Why? Well, it wasn't because I wasn't healed from the battle yet. They wouldn't have been able to keep me from fighting for a stupid reason like that. No, I was pregnant. I'm sure you can gather whose child it was, but I'll tell you anyway. Yusuke's. I felt like killing him when I got over the shock but Ganko wouldn't let me. Kitsume's theory is that we got a little too drunk after celebrating the defeat of Denkou and his cronies._

_I actually got to know Yusuke during those few months and we slowly began getting along better. Before the baby was born I no longer wanted to kill him._

_I had a baby girl who was given the name Kyoko Urameshi and soon after she was born Yusuke and I made the choice to get married so that she would be able to know both her parents. That plan worked out for the best, believe it or not._

_When Kyoko was three months old Ganko decided he couldn't stand being in America any longer and just disappeared one day. It wasn't until later that we learned that he went to the Makai to train. This was after worrying about him for days and questioning Areia and Alex on his whereabouts._

_About a month after this we were finally given the orders to go home. I will never get used to the sensation of riding on a jet and I never want to. Kurama actually had to use one of his plants to put me to sleep because of my nervousness._

_When we got home everyone except Yusuke and I returned to our normal lives. Daisetsu and Botan went back to Reikai, Hikari, Sam, and Kitsume went home and started going to school again, Kuwabara went home and got yelled at by his sister, Yukina and Genkai returned to the shrine, and Hiei went wherever it is he always goes. Ganko was still in the Makai at this time._

_I, on the other hand, got kicked out of my home because of Kyoko and Yusuke didn't want me staying at home with his mother, not wanting Kyoko to be around his drunk mother. Instead we all went to beg Genkai to let us stay at the shrine with her, Yukina, and Hiei._

_Life began to get back into order. We got the usually assignments with demons sneaking through the barriers and Ganko eventually returned from the Makai. The only times things started to get out of order when Areia would visit Ganko at school under the guise of his "photographer". I was actually there the first time she did that because I had to talk to Hikari about something. I still shudder at the memory because of the rather large group of girls that make up the "Ganko Meimu fan club"._

_Anyway, years later after we had all graduated from High School we all either had mates or a boyfriend or girlfriend amongst our two teams. Unsurprisingly, Kurama and Kitsume became mates, something that Ganko was not happy about at all. We got two major surprises when Hikari and Kuwabara started going out and Hiei and Sam became mates. I always figured Hikari would wind up with Daisetsu. As for Hiei and Sam… none of us were expecting that. After all of this Ganko made Areia his mate. Those two have always made a cute couple._

_Years later almost all of us had children. For Yusuke and I it was five-year-old Mina and ten-year-old Kyoko. Hiei and Sam's child was six-year-old Kanaye Yaiba. Kurama and Kitsume had seven-year-old Mamoru Minamino. And it was actually Kuwabara and_ Yukina  _who got married and had a son- five-year-old Akira Kuwabara. Ganko and Areia and Daisetsu and Hikari were the only couple's without children at this time._

_It's amusing to think that Yusuke and I are related to Hiei and Sam because Mina and Kanaye became mates when they got older._

_To this day we are still the Reikai Tantei; all of us._

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

38-year-old Kyoshi Urameshi sighs and closes a ornate black and gold journal, happy to have finished writing about that part of her life. She carefully gets up from her desk, picks up the journal, and walks across the room to the bookshelf where she carefully puts the journal on a shelf with other journal's of hers. Although they aren't labeled she knows what is in each and every one of them.

"Finally finished?" Yusuke asks.

Kyoshi turns around to find her mate leaning against the doorframe, his shoulder length hair pulled back into ponytail at the nape of his neck. "I have." She says. "And what a relief that is! I thought I'd never finish!"

Yusuke chuckles. "I didn't think you would either. You've been working on it for about a year now, haven't you. And now that you're done," He steps to the side revealing a three-year-old boy with black hair, the tips of which are lilac-blue. His eyes are the opposite of his mothers; they're lilac with blue around the outer side of the iris. "your son wants you to tuck him in and read him a story."

Kyoshi smiles. "Alright then. I guess I must comply with my darling son's wishes then, shouldn't I? What story do you want to hear tonight, Kaiiten?"

Kaiiten thinks for a moment before replying. "Tell me about when you and Uncle Ganko met."

Yusuke watches as his mate and youngest son walk down the hallway toward the lilac-blue painted door and then turns and goes to make himself and Kyoshi a snack.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during the same time as the final chapter of 'Illusion'. Areia and Ganko get a final mission from Koenma to go slay a energy stealer demon. Kitsume and Kurama watch over the two's son and bring their daughter over with them.

Areia Heiwa-Meimu gleefully swung her three-year-old son around in a circle. The boy's laughter filled the room as he flew around.

"Ready, Gin? Here we go!" Areia yelled before tossing the black-and-blonde haired boy onto his blue blanketed bed.

Gin squealed and laughed as he flew through the air and landed bouncing on the bed. "More, mommy! More!" He yelled, throwing his hands up into the air.

Areia giggled at her sons antics. "Now, now baby. That's enough for tonight. It's time for mommy's little boy to go to sleep."

Gin pouted cutely, his aqua-marine eyes shimmering with tears.

"Don't give your mother that look." Ganko said as he walked into a the room. There was a smile on his face as he said it. "Get under those covers and we'll tell you a story." He said, wrapping his arms around his mate's slim waist.

Gin quickly crawled under his blankets and laid down, ready to hear one of his dad's funny stories. Areia softly laughed at his actions and Ganko grins.

"He's just like you." Areia whispered.

Ganko couldn't help but tease his mate. "And that's a bad thing?" He asked. "I've got the best mate in all three worlds, the greatest friends a guy could ask for, two wonderful baby sisters who spoil and look after me, and the most handsome baby boy." His kissed Areia's cheek. "I'm glad he's just like me. It mean's he'll have my undeniable kitsune charm and good looks."

Areia rolled her eyes at her childish mate. "Yes dear. Now, what story are we telling tonight?"

Ganko thought for a moment before grinning. "How about the time I learned that I was going to have to work with Kyoshi for the rest of my life?"

Gin laughed. "Yay! I wanna hear about Auntie Kyo!"

Ganko grinned at his son and then took a seat on the edge of the bed. "Lets see… well, Koenma had called me and your Aunts Hikari, Kitsume, and Sam into his office instead of sending Daisetsu after us for once. Little did we know that he had also called Kyoshi to his office as well."

Areia smiled and listened to Ganko and Gin's favorite story while she cleaned up her son's room a little. She laughed gently whenever Gin interrupted his dad to remind him of something. Unfortunately, halfway through the end of the story they were interrupted by the beeping of Areia's watch which signaled a call from Koenma. Areia quickly excused herself and left the room in order to talk to the now King of Reikai.

The cat demon flipped open the new, more discreet communication device, which is designed to look like a watch, once she got into the living room. "Hey, Koenma. What's up?" She asked.

A tired looking Koenma looks at the cat demon through the communi-vice (1). "Areia, I need you and Ganko to go out on a mission. There's an energy stealer close to your usual sectors. Normally I'd send Hiei or Sam, but Hiei's already on a mission and I can't risk Sam with her being pregnant."

Areia nodded. "Okay. Just tell us where this demon is at and we'll take off."

"It's sector 3b-2," Koenma told her. "in the forested section. Be careful with this one Areia. We haven't even been able to tell what level the demon is and you and Ganko are out of practice."

Areia sighed and sat down at the living table and opened her laptop. She quickly pulled up a program labeled 'sectors' and ran a search for sector 3b-2. "Sector 3b-2, located in the forest region. The demon will most likely be in a clearing otherwise it'd be overwhelmed by the plant energy. So he'll either be in the northwestern, central western clearing, or the south-eastern clearing. Any idea which one, Koenma?"

"We've got it narrowed down to the south-eastern one." Koenma said. "Do you want me to get ahold of Kurama and Kitsume and see if they can baby-sit Gin?"

"That would be wonderful, Koenma." Areia said politely. She quickly exited the program and shut the laptop. "Tell them they can bring Sakura. I'm sure Gin won't mind sharing his bed with his favorite cousin. Ganko and I will leave as soon as they get here. If there are any changes in the location contact me. I'll have my communi-vice with me."

Koenma nodded. "Good luck to both of you." He said before the communi-vice screen went blank.

Areia sighed and carefully strapped the watch to her wrist after closing it. "Ganko! We've got a breech in sector 3b-2 in the south-eastern clearing!"

Ganko's head appeared in the doorway. "Do I have time to finish the story? I'm about five minutes into telling Gin about the time you came to my school and everyone heard that you were my photographer."

Areia shook her head 'no'. "Ganko, we have just enough time to get ready before Kitsume and Kurama arrive with Sakura. I told Koenma we'd leave as soon as they get here."

Ganko pouted. "Can I finish it tomorrow?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." Areia replied, walking over to her mate. She peered in the room to see her son watching her and Ganko curiously, his cat ears twitching slightly.

"What's wrong, mommy?" Gin asked.

"Your dad and I have to go on a short mission for Koenma. Your Aunt Kitsume and Uncle Kurama are coming over to watch you and they're bringing Sakura. We'll be back before morning." Areia tells him. "So be good for them like you always are."

"Do Sakura and I get to den together tonight?" Gin asked.

Ganko grinned at the word 'den'. "If you want to. Shall I get the blankets?" He asked before Areia could say anything.

Gin nodded and sprang up from his bed to help his father. Within seconds they have a huge pile of blankets on the floor along with several pillows. Gin buried himself in the blankets quickly so his mom wouldn't scold him.

Ganko was then dragged from the room by Areia so they could go get dressed. They couldn't very well go slay the demon in their pajama's, now could they?"

-DING DONG!-

Areia was the first to exit her and Ganko's bedroom. She was dressed in a simple black long-sleeved shirt with a tie-dyed blue and purple vest over it and dark red pants. She quickly walked to the door and opened it, making sure to step back to let the family of fox demons in.

Ganko soon exited the room dressed in blue jeans and a black t-shirt.

All too soon it was time for the pair to leave for their mission. Sakura and Gin were tucked into their little den, although it was doubtful that they were sleeping. Before Ganko and Areia left, Kitsume spoke up.

"Be careful out there, guys." The black and green haired fox demon said. "Something's telling me that something bad is going to happen."

Ganko smiled and hugged his sister. "We'll be fine, sis. You worry too much."

"We'll be back before you know it." Areia said. "In the meantime, make yourselves comfortable. You both know where everything is and nothing has changed since your last visit."

With that said, the two left. Kitsume shivered as the door closed behind them.

Kurama noticed this and embraced his worried mate and laid his head on her shoulder. "Calm yourself, koi. They'll be just fine like they always are. You'll see. Those two will come back a little beat up and tired. Ganko will be complaining about how it was a waste of his precious sleeping hours while Areia says something witty and gets him to blush. Then the two will disappear into the bedroom with your brother saying things that could have perverted meanings to Areia. Areia will then tell him to shut up so that the children don't wake up. Just like always." He kissed his vixen on her cheek. "You'll see."

"Just like always…" Kitsume softly said, as if trying to convince herself. "Just like always." She repeated, more firmly this time. She turned and smiled at her handsome mate and kissed him on the lips. "Thanks."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Areia shivered as she and Ganko stood in the middle of the clearing looking around for any signs of the energy stealing demon.

"Maybe it's not here." Ganko suggested. He yawned immediately after saying that. "Man, this is a waste of time! We could be at home cuddled up in bed by now."

Areia rolled her stormy blue eyes at her immature mate's comments. "Ganko, has there ever been a time when Koenma has been wrong about a demon sighting?" She asked, trying to get him to focus.

Ganko had to think for almost a minute before he answered. "Well, no. But he's not always right about the area the demon is in. This energy stealer could in in one of the other two clearings."

Areia tiredly smirked. "Well, if that's the case…" She aimed her pointer finger up into the air, Spirit Gun style, and let loose a beam of her silver-blue energy. "There. Now the demon comes to us and we don't have to go through the process of finding the stupid thing."

"How did I ever find such a clever mate?" Ganko questioned, kissing Areia on the cheek.

"You got very lucky." Areia replied. Then she narrowed her eyes as the demon approaches. "It's here."

Ganko gathers some of his energy into his right hand and takes a few steps to Areia's left. Areia subconsciously extended her claws and drew a little electrical power to her fingertips.

"Well, looks like Koenma's little lackey's have come out to play." A dark voice said. "It's about time."

A small hiss escaped Areia's lips and her eyes flashed bright green briefly when the demon stepped into the clearing.

The demon could have easily passed as a human if it hadn't been for his blood red eyes and claws. He had gray hair, pale skin, and slightly pointed ears which made him a classic example of an energy stealer. However, that made it impossible for Areia and Ganko to determine what type of energy stealer he was.

"Well, are you going to attack?" Asked the amused demon. "Or are you just going to sit there and make this even easier for me?"

Ganko and Areia exchanged glances before nodding. Areia then closed her eyes and focused her energy into casting an invisible illusion on Ganko. Ganko meanwhile focused his own energy on creating his original twisted ice staff/sword.

Meanwhile, the demon just stood there. Yes, you read correctly. He's just standing there with a weird all-knowing smirk.

Soon the illusion was put up around Ganko to make him invisible and already Areia was panting, a few small beads of sweat leaving trails down her face.

Ganko sensed that his mate wouldn't be able to hold it very long and quickly darted forward while creating a second twisted ice staff/sword. Then he did a spin, aiming one staff/sword high and the other low.

Ganko and Areia gasped in shock as the demon drew his own two swords and blocked the attack. Because of the shock, Areia's unstable illusion completely fell apart. That left Ganko wide open.

A scream ripped from Ganko's throat as the demon created a whip made of energy and used it to slam Ganko into a tree.

"GANKO!" Areia screamed.

Ganko coughed heavily and sat up, clutching at his side. "I'm fine! Just stay back Areia!" He yelled as he eyes slowly changed to an icy silver-blue, which signaled he was about to use a powerful ice or snow attack.

"Be careful!" Areia yelled back, wishing she could do something to help. She shivered as the clearing began to frost over.  _'Waist. Frost plus cold plus Ganko's powers equals a blinding snow attack! If I can form my ice daggers-'_ She cut off her thoughts as the demon's whip shot out of nowhere in Ganko's direction. "GANKO! BEHIND YOU!" Areia screamed.

Ganko reacted a little too late as the whip tightly wrapped around him and slammed him into another tree. At this point Areia began to see red, so when Ganko was slammed into another tree she snapped and released her aura in a large colorful blast.

When the light faded away Areia had freed Ganko from the whip and was helping him stay on his feet.

The demon smirked at them. "Well, I guess this will be a challenge. And I also get the honor of killing one of the last of the true Unknown cat demons!"

"As if we'll really let you kill us." Areia hissed. "We're stronger than that!"

"Ah," The demon said, his smirk growing larger. "but you have been considerably weakened by your little whelp. What do you call him? Ah yes, Gin. Rather feminine, isn't it?"

Since she was the only thing supporting Ganko, Areia had to settle for growling and hissing at the energy stealer. Ganko settled for directing a menacing glare at the energy stealer while he manipulates his fallen ice staff/sword into breaking apart to form small ice daggers.

' _Dammit.'_  Areia fiercely thought _. 'That jerk is right. We haven't fought any really tough opponents for years because Gin's still young and we can't leave him alone for long. We were just starting to regain some of our old strength back recently.'_  She cast a glance at her communi-vice.  _'If I could call Kit and Kurama then we could team up and get rid of this guy… but then there would be nobody to watch the kids.'_ She frowned. _'I'll tell Kit to call Botan.'_ "Will you be alright?" Areia whispered to Ganko, discreetly gesturing to the communi-vice.

Ganko nodded and continued to focus on making the ice shards sharp enough while the energy stealer continued on about how weak they had become.

Areia quickly flipped open the device and pressed the green button with the symbol for 'illusion' on it. "Kit! We need you-"

-SNAP!-

Areia jumped at the sudden noise and hissed when the communi-vice snapped in half.

"Now, you very well know that I can't let you call in back up. Not that it'd make much of a difference seeing as how you're going to die anyway. It's a pity though. I'll have to kill you sooner now.

Areia's eyes narrowed in hatred and she formed a ball of wind behind her back.

"And the half breed is first."

Ganko and Areia both yelp as the demon's energy whip came between them and roughly shoved them apart. Areia hissed upon hitting the ground and looked up in time to see Ganko crashing into a tree so hard that the tree fell over. Her eyes widened fearfully when he landed in a crumpled head.

"G-Ganko?" She asked hoarsely. "Ganko!" She cried a little louder. "GANKO!" Areia frantically screamed, scrambling to her feet.

"I don't think so, cat."

Areia sharply exhaled when something pierced her midsection and went straight through her. She glared at the demon in front of her as her breathing became heavier. The demon merely smirked and jerked the sword out of her, jumping away as the cat demon feebly swipes at him.

Areia slowly sank to the ground, her eyes clenched tightly shut due to the pain. One arm was wrapped around her stomach in an attempt to slow the blood loss.

"Aww, the poor little kitten can't play anymore." The demon remarked. The he began laughing

Areia trembled as her power began to break the wards she has always had placed on her to contain her explosive power. Swirls of rainbow colored light began to swirl around her as one-by-one her necklaces snapped off her neck and the two stripes on her cheek appeared. "Egyptian goddess, Lady Bast, please hear my plea. Take my hate, take my courage, take my love, take my spirit, and help me find enough strength to defeat this foe. And please watch over my beloved son in my absence." She frantically whispered. Then her powers exploded out of control.

Her eyes swirled with every color associated with the different elements and she raised her hand and pointed it Shot Gun style at the demon. Then, while the crazy demon was still laughing, she let loose all of her energy in the final attack.

The light from her attack flooded the entire area, making it impossible to see anything. Slowly the light faded away and only Ganko and Areia were left in the clearing.

"AREIA!" Kitsume's frantic scream could be heard. "Areia! Ganko!" The female fox demon darted out into the clearing and stopped short at the sight. "Oh kami…" She noticed Areia crawling over to Ganko and took note of the blood staining the cat demon's clothing.

Kitsume's breath caught in her throat when she saw her older brother's beaten and unmoving form. "Ganko…!" She hoarsely whispered. She quickly ran over to the two, as Areia had reached her beloved mate's side and collapsed there.

Areia didn't even move to look up at Kitsume. "Kit… you made it."

Kitsume kneeled down. "What happened…" She started but then shook her head. "Nevermind. Lets get you two out of here and to Spirit World. You need serious medical attention."

"No."

Kitsume stared at Areia aghast. "What? But why?"

"I used my life energy in that last attack… Please…. Take care of Gin."

Kitsume's eyes widened. "What? No! Areia, you'll be fine! You- you have to get better. Gin still needs you."

Areia erupted into a coughing fit and her entire body shook from the force. "I know… please take care… of him. Please, Kit." She begged.

Kitsume sadly nodded her head, her eyes filling with tears. "Okay… I promise that I'll take care of Gin the best I can. Kurama and I will raise him with Sakura and he'll never forget that his parents were heroes."

Areia smiled painfully. "Th-thank you…" She closed her eyes and took a final breath. Then she laid still.

Tears poured from Kitsume's eyes and she let out a mournful howl that could be heard in all three worlds.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

In the Makai, Alex awakened with a start and rushed outside, ignoring the questioning calls of his own mate. Once outside he looked up at the poll that had a bunch of brightly colored bells hanging from it. His heart skipped a beat when Areia's pure white spirit bell (2) shattered into a million pieces.

The pride of griffins looked up as one and all of the other creatures living in the forest listened as a soft chiming noise filled the air. Somewhere in the forest a phoenix burst into flames and was soon reborn from the ashes. (3)

_**-U-N-T-I-L-T-H-E-E-N-D-U-N-T-I-L-T-H-E-E-N-D-U-N-T-I-L-T-H-E-E-N-D-** _

(1) Combination of 'communication' and 'device'. It was named by Yusuke and Kyoshi's oldest and only son, Kaiiten.

(2) The spirit bells are a creation of Alex and Areia's that they came up with when they were kids. They each had a bell and the bells hold a small, teeny tiny piece of their spirit. The idea was that the bell would ring when one of them was in trouble and obviously if one of them were to die the bell would shatter.

(3) In  _Illusion_ it was mentioned that Areia swore she had seen a phoenix before.


End file.
